Let J,E\subset\mathbb{R} be two multi-intervals with non-intersecting interiors. Consider the operator A\colon L^2( J )\to L^2(E),\quad (Af)(x) = \frac 1\pi\int_J \frac {f(y) d y}{{y-x}}, and let A^\dagger be its adjoint. We introduce a self-adjoint operator \mathscr K acting on L^2(E)\oplus L^2(J) , whose off-diagonal blocks consist of A and A^\dagger . In this paper we study the spectral properties of \mathscr K and the operators A^\dagger A and A A^\dagger . Our main tool is to obtain the resolvent of \mathscr K , which is denoted by \mathscr R , using an appropriate Riemann–Hilbert problem, and then compute the jump and poles of \mathscr R in the spectral parameter \lambda . We show that the spectrum of \mathscr K has an absolutely continuous component [0,1] if and only if J and E have common endpoints, and its multiplicity equals to their number. If there are no common endpoints, the spectrum of \mathscr K consists only of eigenvalues and 0 . If there are common endpoints, then \mathscr K may have eigenvalues imbedded in the continuous spectrum, each of them has a finite multiplicity, and the eigenvalues may accumulate only at 0 . In all cases, \mathscr K does not have a singular continuous spectrum. The spectral properties of A^\dagger A and A A^\dagger , which are very similar to those of \mathscr K , are obtained as well.
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