Geometrical interpretation of the bilinear equations of the KP hierarchy (Q1120179)

The authors give a geometrical interpretation of the bilinear equations of the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (KP) hierarchy and its modified versions. Let \(H=L^ 2(S^ 1;{\mathbb{C}})=H_ 0\oplus H_ 0^{\perp}\), where \(H_ l=\{\sum_{i\geq l}a_ i\lambda^ i\}\), \(l\in {\mathbb{Z}}\). To this polarization the Grassmann manifold Gr(H) is associated [\textit{A. Pressley} and \textit{G. Segal}, Loop groups (Oxford 1986; Zbl 0618.22011)]. It is a homogeneous space of the group \(GL_{res}(H)\) consisting of the automorphisms g of H of the form \(g=\left( \begin{matrix} a\\ c\end{matrix} \begin{matrix} b\\ d\end{matrix} \right)\), a and d are Fredholm, b and c are Hilbert-Schmidt. The totality of such g with index \((a)=l\) is denoted by \(GL^ l_{res}(H)\). Put \(Gr^{(l)}(H)=GL^ l_{res}(H)\cdot H_+\). The flow-group \(\Gamma_+\) for the KP hierarchy consists of the elements exp(\(\sum_{i\geq 1}t_ i\Lambda^ i)\in GL^ 0_{res}(H)\), where \(\Lambda\) : \(H\to H\) is the shift operator (multiplication by \(\lambda)\). Now fix W in \(Gr^{(l)}(H)\). For an element \(\gamma \in \Gamma_+\) such that \(\gamma^{-1}W\to H\) is bijective, and a complex number \(\xi\) \((1<| \xi | <1+\epsilon)\), one can associate a wave function of the form \[ \psi_ W(\gamma,\xi)=\xi^ l(1+\sum_{k>0}a_ k(\gamma)\xi^{-k})\exp (\sum_{i\geq 1}t_ i\xi^ i\quad), \] which has the property that its \(L^ 2\)-boundary value \(\psi_ W(\gamma,\lambda)\) belongs to W. The wave function is uniquely determined. Exchanging the role of \(H_ 0\) and \(H_ 0^{\perp}\), one can also define the adjoint wave function \(\phi_ W(\gamma,\eta)\). Assume that \(V\in Gr^{(l)}(H)\) and \(W\in Gr^{(k)}(H)\) are such that \(V\supset W\). Then one has the orthogonality \[ \int_{S^ 1}\psi_ W(\gamma,\lambda) \overline{\phi_ V(\gamma,\lambda)}d\lambda =0. \] Expressing \(\psi_ W\) and \(\phi_ V\) in terms of the \(\tau\)-function, the authors reprove the bilinear equations of the (modified) KP hierarchy, which are given in \textit{M. Jimbo} and \textit{T. Miwa} [Publ. Res. Inst. Math. Sci. 19, 943-1001 (1983; Zbl 0557.35091)].