In the many physical phenomena ruled by partial differential equations, two extreme fields are currently overcrowded due to recent considerable developments: 1) the field of completely integrable equations, whose recent advances are the inverse spectral transform, the recursion operator, underlying Hamiltonian structures, Lax pairs, etc 2) the field of dynamical systems, often built as models of observed physical phenomena: turbulence, intermittency, Poincare sections, transition to chaos, etc. In between there is a very large region where systems are neither integrable nor nonintegrable, but partially integrable, and people working in the latter domain often know methods from either 1) or 2). Due to the growing interest in partially integrable systems, we decided to organize a meeting for physicists active or about to undertake research in this field, and we thought that an appropriate form would be a school. Indeed, some of the above mentioned methods are often adaptable outside their original domain and therefore worth to be taught in an interdisciplinary school. One of the main concerns was to keep a correct balance between physics and mathematics, and this is reflected in the list of courses.

Inverse Scattering Problems and Their Applications to Nonlinear Integrable Equations, Second Edition is devoted to inverse scattering problems (ISPs) for differential equations and their applications to nonlinear evolution equations (NLEEs). The book is suitable for anyone who has a mathematical background and interest in functional analysis, differential equations, and equations of mathematical physics. This book is intended for a wide community working with ISPs and their applications. There is an especially strong traditional community in mathematical physics. In this monograph, the problems are presented step-by-step, and detailed proofs are given for considered problems to make the topics more accessible for students who are approaching them for the first time. New to the Second Edition All new chapter dealing with the Bäcklund transformations between a common solution of both linear equations in the Lax pair and the solution of the associated IBVP for NLEEs on the half-line Updated references and concluding remarks Features Solving the direct and ISP, then solving the associated initial value problem (IVP) or initial-boundary value problem (IBVP) for NLEEs are carried out step-by-step. The unknown boundary values are calculated with the help of the Lax (generalized) equations, then the time-dependent scattering data (SD) are expressed in terms of preassigned initial and boundary conditions. Thereby, the potential functions are recovered uniquely in terms of the given initial and calculated boundary conditions. The unique solvability of the ISP is proved and the SD of the scattering problem is described completely. The considered ISPs are well-solved. The ISPs are set up appropriately for constructing the Bӓckhund transformations (BTs) for solutions of associated IBVPs or IVPs for NLEEs. The procedure for finding a BT for the IBVP for NLEEs on the half-line differs from the one used for obtaining a BT for non-linear differential equations defined in the whole space. The interrelations between the ISPs and the constructed BTs are established to become new powerful unified transformations (UTs) for solving IBVPs or IVPs for NLEEs, that can be used in different areas of physics and mechanics. The application of the UTs is consistent and efficiently embedded in the scheme of the associated ISP.

This volume contains the lectures presented at the workshop on “Quantum Groups, Integrable Models and Statistical Systems”. The papers give either a full exposition of original results or a review of fundamental aspects of this most active research area.

This book is devoted to a classical topic that has undergone rapid and fruitful development over the past 25 years, namely Backlund and Darboux transformations and their applications in the theory of integrable systems, also known as soliton theory. The book consists of two parts. The first is a series of introductory pedagogical lectures presented by leading experts in the field. They are devoted respectively to Backlund transformations of Painleve equations, to the dressing methodand Backlund and Darboux transformations, and to the classical geometry of Backlund transformations and their applications to soliton theory. The second part contains original contributions that represent new developments in the theory and applications of these transformations. Both the introductorylectures and the original talks were presented at an International Workshop that took place in Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada). This volume covers virtually all recent developments in the theory and applications of Backlund and Darboux transformations.

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop, held in Cadiz, Spain, from 12 to 16 June 2002

The principal aim of the book is to give a comprehensive account of the variety of approaches to such an important and complex concept as Integrability. Dev- oping mathematical models, physicists often raise the following questions: whether the model obtained is integrable or close in some sense to an integrable one and whether it can be studied in depth analytically. In this book we have tried to c- ate a mathematical framework to address these issues, and we give descriptions of methods and review results. In the Introduction we give a historical account of the birth and development of the theory of integrable equations, focusing on the main issue of the book – the concept of integrability itself. A universal de nition of Integrability is proving to be elusive despite more than 40 years of its development. Often such notions as “- act solvability” or “regular behaviour” of solutions are associated with integrable systems. Unfortunately these notions do not lead to any rigorous mathematical d- inition. A constructive approach could be based upon the study of hidden and rich algebraic or analytic structures associated with integrable equations. The requi- ment of existence of elements of these structures could, in principle, be taken as a de nition for integrability. It is astonishing that the nal result is not sensitive to the choice of the structure taken; eventually we arrive at the same pattern of eq- tions.