Algebro-Geometric Quasi-Periodic Finite-Gap Solutions of the Toda and Kac-van Moerbeke Hierarchies

Combining algebro-geometric methods and factorization techniques for finite difference expressions we provide a complete and self-contained treatment of all real-valued quasi-periodic finite-gap solutions of both the Toda and Kac-van Moerbeke hierarchies. In order to obtain our principal new result, the algebro-geometric finite-gap solutions of the Kac-van Moerbeke hierarchy, we employ particular commutation methods in connection with Miura-type transformations which enable us to transfer whole classes of solutions (such as finite-gap solutions) from the Toda hierarchy to its modified counterpart, the Kac-van Moerbeke hierarchy, and vice versa.Comment: LaTeX, to appear in Memoirs of the Amer. Math. So

High prices for rare species can drive large populations extinct: the anthropogenic Allee effect revisited

Consumer demand for plant and animal products threatens many populations with extinction. The anthropogenic Allee effect (AAE) proposes that such extinctions can be caused by prices for wildlife products increasing with species rarity. This price-rarity relationship creates financial incentives to extract the last remaining individuals of a population, despite higher search and harvest costs. The AAE has become a standard approach for conceptualizing the threat of economic markets on endangered species. Despite its potential importance for conservation, AAE theory is based on a simple graphical model with limited analysis of possible population trajectories. By specifying a general class of functions for price-rarity relationships, we show that the classic theory can understate the risk of species extinction. AAE theory proposes that only populations below a critical Allee threshold will go extinct due to increasing price-rarity relationships. Our analysis shows that this threshold can be much higher than the original theory suggests, depending on initial harvest effort. More alarmingly, even species with population sizes above this Allee threshold, for which AAE predicts persistence, can be destined to extinction. Introducing even a minimum price for harvested individuals, close to zero, can cause large populations to cross the classic anthropogenic Allee threshold on a trajectory towards extinction. These results suggest that traditional AAE theory may give a false sense of security when managing large harvested populations

Operator splitting for the Benjamin-Ono equation

In this paper we analyze operator splitting for the Benjamin-Ono equation, u_t = uu_x + Hu_xx, where H denotes the Hilbert transform. If the initial data are sufficiently regular, we show the convergence of both Godunov and Strang splitting.Comment: 18 Page

The algebro-geometric initial value problem for the Ablowitz-Ladik hierarchy

We discuss the algebro-geometric initial value problem for the Ablowitz-Ladik hierarchy with complex-valued initial data and prove unique solvability globally in time for a set of initial (Dirichlet divisor) data of full measure. To this effect we develop a new algorithm for constructing stationary complex-valued algebro-geometric solutions of the Ablowitz-Ladik hierarchy, which is of independent interest as it solves the inverse algebro-geometric spectral problem for general (non-unitary) Ablowitz-Ladik Lax operators, starting from a suitably chosen set of initial divisors of full measure. Combined with an appropriate first-order system of differential equations with respect to time (a substitute for the well-known Dubrovin-type equations), this yields the construction of global algebro-geometric solutions of the time-dependent Ablowitz-Ladik hierarchy. The treatment of general (non-unitary) Lax operators associated with general coefficients for the Ablowitz-Ladik hierarchy poses a variety of difficulties that, to the best of our knowledge, are successfully overcome here for the first time. Our approach is not confined to the Ablowitz-Ladik hierarchy but applies generally to (1+1)-dimensional completely integrable soliton equations of differential-difference type.Comment: 47 page