Integrating factors and first integrals for ordinary differential equations (Q4236532)

The authors show how to find all integrating factors and corresponding first integrals for any system of ordinary differential equations. An integrating factor is a set of functions, multiplying each of the ordinary differential equations, which yields a first integral. If the system is selfadjoint, then its integrating factors are necessary solutions to its linearized system. Such solutions are symmetries of the given system. If a given system is not selfadjoint, then its integrating factors are necessarily solutions to the adjoint system of its linearized system. Such solutions are known as adjoint symmetries. In section 2, the authors define integrating factors and first integrals for systems of ordinary differential equations. They show that each integrating factor must be an adjoint symmetry, and derive an adjoint-invariance condition (which is necessary and sufficient) for an adjoint symmetry to be an integrating factor. They give an explicit formula for the first integral arising from an integrating factor. In section 3 they treat the case of second-order equations, and make some remarks about the situation for higher-order scalar equations. In section 4 they discuss techniques for finding and utilizing adjoint symmetries in conjunction with the adjoint- invariance condition.They show, how to use adjoint symmetry and functions of known first integrals to obtain new first integrals. In section 5 various examples are considered. From the text of the erratum: ``The last sentence of \(3.2\) should read as follows: For \(n=4\), the splitting yields six such linear PDEs from the coefficients of the terms involving \(Y^{(6)}\), \(Y^{(4)}\), \(Y^{(5)}\), \(Y^{(5)}\), \(Y^{(4)3}\), \(Y^{(4)2}\) and \(Y^{(4)}\). In the first paragraph of \(6\), the penultimate sentence should read as follows: For an \(n\)th-order scalar ODE the determining equations are a linear system of PDEs consisting of the adjoint of the determining equation for symmetries of the \(n\)th-order ODE and additional equations when \(n\geq 2\).''