Comment on `conservative discretizations of the Kepler motion'

We show that the exact integrator for the classical Kepler motion, recently found by Kozlov ({\it J. Phys. A: Math. Theor.\} {\bf 40} (2007) 4529-4539), can be derived in a simple natural way (using well known exact discretization of the harmonic oscillator). We also turn attention on important earlier references, where the exact discretization of the 4-dimensional isotropic harmonic oscillator has been applied to the perturbed Kepler problem.Comment: 6 page

The Darboux-Backlund transformation for the static 2-dimensional continuum Heisenberg chain

We construct the Darboux-Backlund transformation for the sigma model describing static configurations of the 2-dimensional classical continuum Heisenberg chain. The transformation is characterized by a non-trivial normalization matrix depending on the background solution. In order to obtain the transformation we use a new, more general, spectral problem.Comment: 12 page

Long-time behaviour of discretizations of the simple pendulum equation

We compare the performance of several discretizations of the simple pendulum equation in a series of numerical experiments. The stress is put on the long-time behaviour. We choose for the comparison numerical schemes which preserve the qualitative features of solutions (like periodicity). All these schemes are either symplectic maps or integrable (preserving the energy integral) maps, or both. We describe and explain systematic errors (produced by any method) in numerical computations of the period and the amplitude of oscillations. We propose a new numerical scheme which is a modification of the discrete gradient method. This discretization preserves (almost exactly) the period of small oscillations for any time step.Comment: 41 pages, including 18 figures and 4 table

Pseudospherical surfaces on time scales: a geometric definition and the spectral approach

We define and discuss the notion of pseudospherical surfaces in asymptotic coordinates on time scales. Thus we extend well known notions of discrete pseudospherical surfaces and smooth pseudosperical surfaces on more exotic domains (e.g, the Cantor set). In particular, we present a new expression for the discrete Gaussian curvature which turns out to be valid for asymptotic nets on any time scale. We show that asymptotic Chebyshev nets on an arbitrary time scale have constant negative Gaussian curvature. We present also the quaternion-valued spectral problem (the Lax pair) and the Darboux-Backlund transformation for pseudospherical surfaces (in asymptotic coordinates) on arbitrary time scales.Comment: 20 page

Algebraic construction of the Darboux matrix revisited

We present algebraic construction of Darboux matrices for 1+1-dimensional integrable systems of nonlinear partial differential equations with a special stress on the nonisospectral case. We discuss different approaches to the Darboux-Backlund transformation, based on different lambda-dependencies of the Darboux matrix: polynomial, sum of partial fractions, or the transfer matrix form. We derive symmetric N-soliton formulas in the general case. The matrix spectral parameter and dressing actions in loop groups are also discussed. We describe reductions to twisted loop groups, unitary reductions, the matrix Lax pair for the KdV equation and reductions of chiral models (harmonic maps) to SU(n) and to Grassmann spaces. We show that in the KdV case the nilpotent Darboux matrix generates the binary Darboux transformation. The paper is intended as a review of known results (usually presented in a novel context) but some new results are included as well, e.g., general compact formulas for N-soliton surfaces and linear and bilinear constraints on the nonisospectral Lax pair matrices which are preserved by Darboux transformations.Comment: Review paper (61 pages). To be published in the Special Issue "Nonlinearity and Geometry: Connections with Integrability" of J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. (2009), devoted to the subject of the Second Workshop on Nonlinearity and Geometry ("Darboux Days"), Bedlewo, Poland (April 2008

A direct approach to the construction of standard and non-standard Lagrangians for dissipative dynamical systems with variable coefficients

We present a direct approach to the construction of Lagrangians for a large class of one-dimensional dynamical systems with a simple dependence (monomial or polynomial) on the velocity. We rederive and generalize some recent results and find Lagrangian formulations which seem to be new. Some of the considered systems (e.g., motions with the friction proportional to the velocity and to the square of the velocity) admit infinite families of different Lagrangian formulations.Comment: 17 page

Classification of integrable Weingarten surfaces possessing an sl(2)-valued zero curvature representation

In this paper we classify Weingarten surfaces integrable in the sense of soliton theory. The criterion is that the associated Gauss equation possesses an sl(2)-valued zero curvature representation with a nonremovable parameter. Under certain restrictions on the jet order, the answer is given by a third order ordinary differential equation to govern the functional dependence of the principal curvatures. Employing the scaling and translation (offsetting) symmetry, we give a general solution of the governing equation in terms of elliptic integrals. We show that the instances when the elliptic integrals degenerate to elementary functions were known to nineteenth century geometers. Finally, we characterize the associated normal congruences

Darboux transformation for two component derivative nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation

In this paper, we consider the two component derivative nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation and present a simple Darboux transformation for it. By iterating this Darboux transformation, we construct a compact representation for the $N-$soliton solutions.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure