Integrable Discrete Geometry: the Quadrilateral Lattice, its Transformations and Reductions

We review recent results on Integrable Discrete Geometry. It turns out that most of the known (continuous and/or discrete) integrable systems are particular symmetries of the quadrilateral lattice, a multidimensional lattice characterized by the planarity of its elementary quadrilaterals. Therefore the linear property of planarity seems to be a basic geometric property underlying integrability. We present the geometric meaning of its tau-function, as the potential connecting its forward and backward data. We present the theory of transformations of the quadrilateral lattice, which is based on the discrete analogue of the theory of rectilinear congruences. In particular, we discuss the discrete analogues of the Laplace, Combescure, Levy, radial and fundamental transformations and their interrelations. We also show how the sequence of Laplace transformations of a quadrilateral surface is described by the discrete Toda system. We finally show that these classical transformations are strictly related to the basic operators associated with the quantum field theoretical formulation of the multicomponent Kadomtsev-Petviashvilii hierarchy. We review the properties of quadrilateral hyperplane lattices, which play an interesting role in the reduction theory, when the introduction of additional geometric structures allows to establish a connection between point and hyperplane lattices. We present and fully characterize some geometrically distinguished reductions of the quadrilateral lattice, like the symmetric, circular and Egorov lattices; we review also basic geometric results of the theory of quadrilateral lattices in quadrics, and the corresponding analogue of the Ribaucour reduction of the fundamental transformation.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figures, to appear in Proceedings from the Conference "Symmetries and Integrability of Difference Equations III", Sabaudia, 199

The symmetric, D-invariant and Egorov reductions of the quadrilateral lattice

We present a detailed study of the geometric and algebraic properties of the multidimensional quadrilateral lattice (a lattice whose elementary quadrilaterals are planar; the discrete analogue of a conjugate net) and of its basic reductions. To make this study, we introduce the notions of forward and backward data, which allow us to give a geometric meaning to the tau-function of the lattice, defined as the potential connecting these data. Together with the known circular lattice (a lattice whose elementary quadrilaterals can be inscribed in circles; the discrete analogue of an orthogonal conjugate net) we introduce and study two other basic reductions of the quadrilateral lattice: the symmetric lattice, for which the forward and backward data coincide, and the D-invariant lattice, characterized by the invariance of a certain natural frame along the main diagonal. We finally discuss the Egorov lattice, which is, at the same time, symmetric, circular and D-invariant. The integrability properties of all these lattices are established using geometric, algebraic and analytic means; in particular we present a D-bar formalism to construct large classes of such lattices. We also discuss quadrilateral hyperplane lattices and the interplay between quadrilateral point and hyperplane lattices in all the above reductions.Comment: 48 pages, 6 figures; 1 section added, to appear in J. Geom. & Phy

Multidimensional Quadrilateral Lattices are Integrable

The notion of multidimensional quadrilateral lattice is introduced. It is shown that such a lattice is characterized by a system of integrable discrete nonlinear equations. Different useful formulations of the system are given. The geometric construction of the lattice is also discussed and, in particular, it is clarified the number of initial--boundary data which define the lattice uniquely.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, 6 Postscript figure

Integrable Systems and Discrete Geometry

This is an expository article for Elsevier's Encyclopedia of Mathematical Physics on the subject in the title. Comments/corrections welcome.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure

Quadratic reductions of quadrilateral lattices

It is shown that quadratic constraints are compatible with the geometric integrability scheme of the multidimensional quadrilateral lattice equation. The corresponding Ribaucour reduction of the fundamental transformation of quadrilateral lattices is found as well, and superposition of the Ribaucour transformations is presented in the vectorial framework. Finally, the quadratic reduction approach is illustrated on the example of multidimensional circular lattices.Comment: 24 page