On a class of 2D integrable lattice equations

Abstract

We develop a new approach to the classification of integrable equations of the form $$ u_{xy}=f(u, u_x, u_y, \triangle_z u \triangle_{\bar z}u, \triangle_{z\bar z}u), $$ where $\triangle_{ z}$ and $\triangle_{\bar z}$ are the forward/backward discrete derivatives. The following 2-step classification procedure is proposed: (1) First we require that the dispersionless limit of the equation is integrable, that is, its characteristic variety defines a conformal structure which is Einstein-Weyl on every solution. (2) Secondly, to the candidate equations selected at the previous step we apply the test of Darboux integrability of reductions obtained by imposing suitable cut-off conditions.