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

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

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 $(S,\sigma)$