Soliton solutions and gauge equivalence for the problem of Zakharov–Shabat and its generalizations

Abstract

In a paper by Takhtadjan and Faddeev [Hamiltonian approach to the soliton theory (in Russian) (Nauka, Moskov, 1986)] the N-soliton solutions, related to the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NSE), are given. A generalization of this approach allows us to apply it not only to the NSE, but to the whole hierarchy of the Zakharov–Shabat problem, to the quadratic bundle problem, and to the ones gauge equivalent to them [where one can find, for example, the Heisenberg ferromagnet equation, the relativistic Mikhailov model (which, in appropriate reduction, is equivalent to the massive Thirring model), the derivative nonlinear Schrödinger equation (which is equivalent to the derivative Landau–Lifshitz equation), etc.]. We have used an appropriate reduction, giving us interesting, from a physical point of view, results. Thus we manage to obtain the soliton solutions for the whole hierarchy of the quadratic bundle problem (free and under reduction) and for the ones gauge equivalent to it. This result was first announced in previous articles by Vaklev, but here we manage to solve the determinants given there and to present the searched result as simple fractions of products of numerical differences.