A hierarchy of integrable partial differential equations in 2+1 dimensions associated with one-parameter families of one-dimensional vector fields

Abstract

We introduce a hierarchy of integrable partial differential equations in 2+1 dimensions arising from the commutation of one-parameter families of vector fields, and we construct the formal solution of the associated Cauchy problems using the inverse scattering method for one-parameter families of vector fields. Because the space of eigenfunctions is a ring, the inverse problem can be formulated in three distinct ways. In particular, one formulation corresponds to a linear integral equation for a Jost eigenfunction, and another formulation is a scalar nonlinear Riemann problem for suitable analytic eigenfunctions.