Symmetries of the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation (Q1347411)

The authors study the relation between the symmetries of the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation \[ \dot{Q}_{n}=\frac{i\gamma}{h^{2}}\left[\left(1-\varepsilon|Q_{n}|^{2 } \right)\left(Q_{n+1}+Q_{n-1}\right)-2Q_{n}\right] \tag{1} \] and the nonlinear Schrödinger equation \[ iu_{t}+\gamma u_{xx}-2\varepsilon\gamma|u|^{2}u=0. \tag{2} \] Equation (1) belongs to the hierarchy of differential-difference equations associated with the discrete Zakharov-Shabat spectral problem. The continuous limit \(Q=hu\), \(x=nh\) transforms (1) into (2) up to the second order of the lattice spacing \(h\). Equation (1) has the same integrable structure as (2). In the paper, the Lie algebra \(L(h)\) of point symmetries of (1) is described. In the continuous limit, the structure of \(L(h)\) changes: a contraction occurs with \(h\) as the contraction parameter. A five-dimensional subspace of \(L(h)\), generated by both point and generalized symmetries, transforms (1) into the five-dimensional point symmetry algebra of (2).