Separation of variables for soliton equations via their binary constrained flows

Binary constrained flows of soliton equations admitting $\text{2×2}$ Lax matrices have $\text{2N}$ degrees of freedom, which is twice as many degrees of freedom than in the case of monoconstrained flows. By using the normal method, their Lax matrices directly give rise to first N pairs of canonical separated variables for their separation of variables. We propose a new method to introduce the other N pairs of canonical separated variables and additional separated equations. The Jacobi inversion problems for binary constrained flows are established. Finally, the factorization of soliton equations by two commuting binary constrained flows and the separability of binary constrained flows enable us to construct the Jacobi inversion problems for some soliton hierarchies.