On the two-boson picture of the KP hierarchy

Abstract

A two-boson realization of the second hamiltonian structure for the KP hierarchy has recently appeared in the literature. Furthermore, it has been claimed that this is also a realization of the hierarchy itself. This is surprising because it would mean that the dynamics of the KP hierarchy---which in its usual formulation requires an infinite number of fields---can be described with only two. The purpose of this short note is to point out the almost obvious fact that the hierarchy described by the two bosons is not the KP hierarchy but rather a reduction thereof---one which is moreover incompatible with the reduction to the KdV-type subhierarchies.