The impact of alternative generalized operators subalgebra upon the factorization of ordinary differential equations (Q2172885)

The paper describes a generalization of classical methods of group analysis of integrating 2nd order scalar ODEs with a known 2-dimensional symmetry algebra to the case of so-called alternative generalized operators introduced in [\textit{V. Zaitsev} et al., Math. Comput. Sci. Eng. Ser. 32, 86--89 (2014; Zbl 1325.34047)]. These operators extend the class of contact symmetries of differential equations and, as the author shows, provide effective methods of reducing a 2nd order ODE to a system of two 1st order ODEs. If a given 2nd order ODE admits two alternative generalized operators \(X_1\) and \(X_2\) such that \([X_1,X_2]=\lambda_1(x,y,y')X_1 + \lambda_2(x,y,y')X_2\), then the author proves that the reduced system can be effectively integrated. The proof is split into three cases, whether both operators \(X_1\) and \(X_2\) are contact symmetries, only one of them is a contact symmetry or both operators \(X_1\) and \(X_2\) are not contact. Each of these cases is illustrated with explicit examples.