Curious Continued Fractions, Nonlinear Recurrences and Transcendental Numbers

We consider a family of integer sequences generated by nonlinear recurrences of the second order, which have the curious property that the terms of the sequence, and integer multiples of the ratios of successive terms (which are also integers), appear interlaced in the continued fraction expansion of the sum of the reciprocals of the terms. Using the rapid (double exponential) growth of the terms, for each sequence it is shown that the sum of the reciprocals is a transcendental number

Diophantine non-integrability of a third order recurrence with the Laurent property

We consider a one-parameter family of third order nonlinear recurrence relations. Each member of this family satisfies the singularity confinement test, has a conserved quantity, and moreover has the Laurent property: all of the iterates are Laurent polynomials in the initial data. However, we show that these recurrences are not Diophantine integrable according to the definition proposed by Halburd. Explicit bounds on the asymptotic growth of the heights of iterates are obtained for a special choice of initial data. As a by-product of our analysis, infinitely many solutions are found for a certain family of Diophantine equations, studied by Mordell, that includes Markoff's equation

Laurent Polynomials and Superintegrable Maps

This article is dedicated to the memory of Vadim Kuznetsov, and begins with some of the author's recollections of him. Thereafter, a brief review of Somos sequences is provided, with particular focus being made on the integrable structure of Somos-4 recurrences, and on the Laurent property. Subsequently a family of fourth-order recurrences that share the Laurent property are considered, which are equivalent to Poisson maps in four dimensions. Two of these maps turn out to be superintegrable, and their iteration furnishes infinitely many solutions of some associated quartic Diophantine equations

Algebraic curves, integer sequences and a discrete Painleve transcendent

We consider some bilinear recurrences that have applications in number theory. The explicit solution of a general three-term bilinear recurrence relation of fourth order is given in terms of the Weierstrass sigma function for an associated elliptic curve. The recurrences can generate integer sequences, including the Somos 4 sequence and elliptic divisibility sequences. An interpretation via the theory of integrable systems suggests the relation between certain higher order recurrences and hyperelliptic curves of higher genus. Analogous sequences associated with a q-discrete Painlev\'e I equation are briefly considered

Non-standard discretization of biological models

We consider certain types of discretization schemes for differential equations with quadratic nonlinearities, which were introduced by Kahan, and considered in a broader setting by Mickens. These methods have the property that they preserve important structural features of the original systems, such as the behaviour of solutions near to fixed points, and also, where appropriate (e.g. for certain mechanical systems), the property of being volume-preserving, or preserving a symplectic/Poisson structure. Here we focus on the application of Kahan's method to models of biological systems, in particular to reaction kinetics governed by the Law of Mass Action, and present a general approach to birational discretization, which is applied to population dynamics of Lotka-Volterra type

Symplectic Maps from Cluster Algebras

We consider nonlinear recurrences generated from the iteration of maps that arise from cluster algebras. More precisely, starting from a skew-symmetric integer matrix, or its corresponding quiver, one can define a set of mutation operations, as well as a set of associated cluster mutations that are applied to a set of affine coordinates (the cluster variables). Fordy and Marsh recently provided a complete classification of all such quivers that have a certain periodicity property under sequences of mutations. This periodicity implies that a suitable sequence of cluster mutations is precisely equivalent to iteration of a nonlinear recurrence relation. Here we explain briefly how to introduce a symplectic structure in this setting, which is preserved by a corresponding birational map (possibly on a space of lower dimension). We give examples of both integrable and non-integrable maps that arise from this construction. We use algebraic entropy as an approach to classifying integrable cases. The degrees of the iterates satisfy a tropical version of the map

Sigma-function solution to the general Somos-6 recurrence via hyperelliptic Prym varieties

We construct the explicit solution of the initial value problem for sequences generated by the general Somos-6 recurrence relation, in terms of the Kleinian sigma-function of genus two. For each sequence there is an associated genus two curve $X$, such that iteration of the recurrence corresponds to translation by a fixed vector in the Jacobian of $X$. The construction is based on a Lax pair with a spectral curve $S$ of genus four admitting an involution $\sigma$ with two fixed points, and the Jacobian of $X$ arises as the Prym variety Prym $(S,\sigma)$

Efficient ECM Factorization in Parallel with the Lyness Map

The Lyness map is a birational map in the plane which provides one of the simplest discrete analogues of a Hamiltonian system with one degree of freedom, having a conserved quantity and an invariant symplectic form. As an example of a symmetric Quispel-Roberts-Thompson (QRT) map, each generic orbit of the Lyness map lies on a curve of genus one, and corresponds to a sequence of points on an elliptic curve which is one of the fibres in a pencil of biquadratic curves in the plane. Here we present a version of the elliptic curve method (ECM) for integer factorization, which is based on iteration of the Lyness map with a particular choice of initial data. More precisely, we give an algorithm for scalar multiplication of a point on an arbitrary elliptic curve over Q, which is represented by one of the curves in the Lyness pencil. In order to avoid field inversion (I), and require only field multiplication (M), squaring (S) and addition, projective coordinates in P1 × P1 are used. Neglecting multiplication by curve constants (assumed small), each addition of the chosen point uses 2M, while each doubling step requires 15M. We further show that the doubling step can be implemented efficiently in parallel with four processors, dropping the effective cost to 4M. In contrast, the fastest algorithms in the literature use twisted Edwards curves (equivalent to Montgomery curves), which correspond to a subset of all elliptic curves. Scalar muliplication on twisted Edwards curves with suitable small curve constants uses 8M for point addition and 4M+4S for point doubling, both of which can be run in parallel with four processors to yield effective costs of 2M and 1M + 1S, respectively. Thus our scalar multiplication algorithm should require, on average, roughly twice as many multiplications per bit as state of the art methods using twisted Edwards curves. In our conclusions, we discuss applications where the use of Lyness curves may provide potential advantages

Non-integrability of a fifth order equation with integrable two-body dynamics

We consider the fifth order partial differential equation (PDE) u4x,t?5uxxt+4ut+uu5x+2uxu4x?5uu3x?10uxuxx+12uux=0, which is a generalization of the integrable Camassa-Holm equation. The fifth order PDE has exact solutions in terms of an arbitrary number of superposed pulsons, with geodesic Hamiltonian dynamics that is known to be integrable in the two-body case N=2. Numerical simulations show that the pulsons are stable, dominate the initial value problem and scatter elastically. These characteristics are reminiscent of solitons in integrable systems. However, after demonstrating the non-existence of a suitable Lagrangian or bi-Hamiltonian structure, and obtaining negative results from Painlev\'{e} analysis and the Wahlquist-Estabrook method, we assert that the fifth order PDE is not integrable

Backlund transformations for the sl(2) Gaudin magnet

Elementary, one- and two-point, Backlund transformations are constructed for the generic case of the sl(2) Gaudin magnet. The spectrality property is used to construct these explicitly given, Poisson integrable maps which are time-discretizations of the continuous flows with any Hamiltonian from the spectral curve of the 2x2 Lax matrix