Discrete Lagrangian systems on the Virasoro group and Camassa-Holm family

Abstract

We show that the continuous limit of a wide natural class of the right-invariant discrete Lagrangian systems on the Virasoro group gives the family of integrable PDE's containing Camassa-Holm, Hunter-Saxton and Korteweg-de Vries equations. This family has been recently derived by Khesin and Misiolek as Euler equations on the Virasoro algebra for $H^1_{\alpha,\beta}$-metrics. Our result demonstrates a universal nature of these equations.