ON NON-COMMUTATIVE INTEGRABLE

arXiv:0904.0901v1 [nlin.SI] 6 Apr 2009

BURGERS EQUATIONS
Metin Gürses
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences
Bilkent University, 06800 Ankara - Turkey

Atalay Karasu
Department of Physics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Middle East Technical University, 06531 Ankara-Turkey

Refik Turhan
Department of Engineering Physics
Ankara University, 06500 Ankara-Turkey

November 20, 2018

Abstract
We construct the recursion operators for the non-commutative
Burgers equations using their Lax operators. We investigate the exis-
tence of any integrable mixed version of left- and right-handed Burgers
equations on higher symmetry grounds.

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1 Introduction
Non-commutative generalizations of the classical nonlinear evolution equa-
tions in (1+1) dimensions were classified according to the symmetry based
integrability in [1]. In this classification, (besides some multi-component
equations) one-component non-commutative versions of a Korteweg-de Vries
(ncKdV), a Potential KdV (ncPKdV), two Modified KdV (ncMKdV1, ncMKdV2)
and two (left- and right-handed) nc-Burgers equations are observed to have
higher symmetry in a certain weighting scheme of symmetries. Recursion
operators for ncKdV, ncPKdV and ncMKdV1 were given in [2] and the one
for ncMKdV2 in [3]. In [2], classification [1] is shown to be complete under
the assumed weighting scheme of equations.
Possession of a higher symmetry is a necessary condition which needs to
be supplemented by either a recursion operator or a master symmetry for
an equation to be integrable in the symmetry sense. A recursion operator
generates infinite hierarchy of symmetries by mapping a symmetry to an-
other endlessly. Master symmetries do the same as adjoint action. Therefore
ncKdV, ncPKdV, ncMKdV1 and ncMKdV2 are integrable equations.
As for the nc-Burgers equations, their integrability is proven by a mas-
ter symmetry [2]. Moreover, they are shown to be linearizable by a non-
commutative version of the Cole-Hopf transformation. Their symmetry hier-
archies are obtainable from the ‘higher heat equations’ and they admit auto-
Bäcklund transformations [4, 5]. Some exact solutions of the associated lin-
earized (nc-Heat) equation were obtained in [8, 9]. So, nc-Burgers equations
are one of the best studied equations among the known non-commutative
integrable equations. There is one missing point however; currently no re-
cursion operator of nc-Burgers equations is known. It is even claimed that
there exists none [2].
Integrability has many aspects. A symmetry integrable equation may
further possess a hierarchy of conservation laws, or a Lax formulation, auto-
Bäcklund transformations, Hirota bilinear formulation, Painlave property
etc. In general, there is not a well established correspondence among these
structures. But demonstration of one of these structures is regarded as a
strong indication (and a good motivation to search) for other structures of
an equation.
Recently, a new nc-Burgers equation, which is a particular parametric
mixture of the left- and right-handed nc-Burgers equations, was introduced

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with a Lax pair in [9]. Despite having a Lax formulation, absence of this
mixed nc-Burgers equation in the former symmetry and the relevant structure
studies is remarkable.
In this paper, starting from a Kupershmidt type hierarchy of Lax repre-
sentations, we construct both the time independent and the time dependent
recursion operators of the nc-Burgers equations by the method introduced
in [3]. Our construction leads to only recursion operators of the left- or
right-handed nc-Burgers equations . The Lax representation given for the
mixed version of nc-Burgers equation does not lead to a recursion operator
of the equation by the mentioned technique. Therefore, we reinvestigate the
possibility of having an integrable mixed version of nc-Burgers equation on
higher symmetry grounds again. This time, however, we do the symmetry
analysis by relaxing the weighting constraints taken in [1, 2]. We comment
on sufficiency of having a Lax pair to be integrable in the symmetry sense.

2 Construction of Recursion Operators

From here on, by nc-Burgers equation we shall specifically refer to the right-
handed nc-Burgers equation

ut = u2x + 2uux (1)

and present the explicit results pertaining to this version only. This is be-
cause all the results given here correspond to that of left-handed nc-Burgers
equation by an interchange of left multiplication operator Lψ (φ) = ψφ with
the right multiplication Rψ (φ) = φψ at their every occurrence.
The Lax representation for the nc-Burgers hierarchy with

L = Dx + Lu . (2)

is given by
Ltn = [An , L], (3)
where An = (Ln )≥1 and Dx denotes the total derivative with respect to x.
When a hierarchy of Lax pairs is known, a technique for constructing
recursion operator for the associated symmetry hierarchy is given in [3]. This
technique is based mainly on the identification of the relation between the

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Lax representations of the individual symmetries in the hierarchy. For the
detailed explanation of the method and explicit examples we refer to [3].
The relation among the Lax representations of the individual equations
(symmetries) in the nc-Burgers hierarchy is

Ltn+1 = LLtn + [Tn , L]. (4)

With the ansatz for the remainder Tn = an Dx + bn , solution of this operator

equality gives an = ad−1
L un ,and arbitrary bn . Therefore we have the following
recursion formula

un+1 = (Dx + Lu )un + Rux ad−1

L un − adL bn (5)

among the successive symmetries. Here adL = Dx + Lu − Ru .

Considering the vector space structure of symmetries on which the recur-
sion operators act, we first choose bn = 0 and arrive at the time independent
recursion operator of the nc-Burgers equation which is

R1 = Dx + Lu + Rux ad−1
L . (6)

To show that R1 is a conventional recursion operator for the nc-Burgers

hierarchy, one needs to prove that it satisfies the basic defining condition [6]

Rt = [F , R] (7)

where F = Dx2 +2Lu Dx +2Rux is the Frechet derivative of the right hand side
of nc-Burgers equation (1). In the present case however, it is more convenient
to verify this basic condition in its equivalent form [10]

Mt − F M = MN −1(Nt − F N ) (8)

where R1 = MN −1 with

M = (Dx + Lu )adL + Rux , N = adL . (9)

It can be straightforwardly verified that Eqn.(8) indeed holds and therefore

R1 is a recursion operator for nc-Burgers equation. It generates an infinite

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hierarchy of symmetries if an initial one is given. The first few symmetries
starting from σ0 = ux are

σ1 = u2x + 2uux,
σ2 = u3x + 3uu2x + 3ux 2 + 3u2ux ,
σ3 = u4x + 4uu3x + 4ux uux + 4u2x ux + 6u2 u2x + 4u3ux + 6ux u2x
+8uux2 .

As in the commutative Burgers equation, there is another recursion operator

of the nc-Burgers equation which is explicitly time dependent. We can de-
termine the time dependent recursion operator R2 , with the help of the bn ,
by inspection. Hence choosing bn = (tDx + tLu + x2 )ad−1
L un in (5) we get the
time dependent recursion operator
x
R2 = adL (tDx + tLu + )ad−1
L . (10)
2
Again, as in the commutative case, this time-dependent recursion operator
R2 is a weak recursion operator meaning that despite satisfying the basic
condition (8), this recursion operator fails to generate higher symmetries
correctly. Going through the algorithm [11, 12], the corrected time-dependent
recursion operator for the nc-Burgers equation is obtained to be
x 1 1
R2 = adL (tDx + tLu + )ad−1
L + ( + tLux )Dt−1 ΠadL , (11)
2 2 2
where Π is the projection operator defined as Πh(t, x, u, ux, ...) = h(t, 0, 0, ...)
for any function h . The first few symmetries are
1
σ0 = + tux ,
2
1
σ1 = t2 (u2x + 2uux ) + t(u + xux ) + x,
2
3 2 2
σ2 = t (u3x + 3uu2x + 3ux + 3u ux )
3 3
+ t2 (3ux + xu2x + 3xuux + u2 )
2 2
3 3 2 3 3 2
+ t( + x ux + ux) + x . (12)
4 4 2 8

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3 Mixed nc-Burgers equations
The mixed nc-Burgers equation having an arbitrary constant α
vt = v2x + (α − 2)vx v + αvvx (13)
was introduced with the Lax pair
Lmixed = Dx + v, Amixed = Dx2 + 2vDx + 2vx + αv 2 (14)
in [9]. Even though the mixed nc-Burgers equation (13) admits the particular
Lax formulation (14) which may be regarded as indicating integrability. This
equation has not shown up in symmetry classifications [1, 2]. Moreover, we
have already obtained the recursion operators that Lmixed can give. They are
only the recursion operators of the nc-Burgers equation (1) admitting Lax
representations Lmixed = Dx + Lu or Lmixed = Dx + Ru .
Therefore, here we reinvestigate a slightly generalized mixed nc-Burgers
equations for higher symmetry. In our specific attempt, we relax the weight-
ing scheme used in [1, 2] for the selection of the terms to be included in
the candidate symmetry. We included all the terms with polynomial and
derivative orders up to four. We have the following proposition.
Proposition: The equation of form
ut = u2x + auux + bux u (15)
with a, b ∈ R and ab 6= 0, u is is non-commutative,
i) does not admit any higher symmetry from the class of equations
X
4 X
4 X
4
ut = ν(t, x) + αi (t, x)uix + β ij (t, x)uix ujx + γ ijk (t, x)uix ujx ukx
i=0 i,j=0 i,j,k=0

X
4
+ δ ijkl (t, x)uix ujx ukx ulx ,
i,j,k,l=0

ii) admits only the Lie-point symmetries

σ1 = ut ,
σ2 = ux ,
σ3 = 2tut + xux + u,
σ4 = 1 + (a + b)tux ,

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 iii) in particular, when b = −a, σ1 , σ2 , σ3 remains as they are but σ4 = 1
generalizes to σ4 = h(t, x) where h(t, x) is a solution of ht = hxx .
So, to the extent of the above proposition, integrable versions of nc-
Burgers equations are only the left- and right-handed ones which are already
given in [1]. We claim that there does not exist either a Lax hierarchy or a
recursion operator for the mixed nc-Burgers equation (13).
Nevertheless, a non-integrable equation with a Lax formulation is not
unusual. Such (commutative) equations are shown to exist in [13] and further
investigated in [14].
One of the authors A.K. is thankful to Sergei Sakovich for various valuable
discussions. This work is partially supported by the Scientific and Techno-
logical Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and Turkish Academy of
Sciences (TUBA).

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