A Lagrangian description of the higher-order Painlevé equations (Q5891579)

This paper presents Lagrangian descriptions for three kinds of sixth-order ODEs of Painlevé type belonging to the first, the second and the \(K_2\) Painlevé hierarchies, respectively, the \(K_2\) hierarchy being given in [\textit{N. A. Kudryashov}, Phys. Lett., A 252, No. 3-4, 173--179 (1999; Zbl 0948.34069)]. It is shown that each equation admits a Lagrangian \(L=L(x, u, u_1, u_2, u_3)\) such that it is expressible in the form \[ \frac{\partial L}{\partial u}- D_x \Bigl(\frac{\partial L} {\partial u_1} \Bigl) + D_x^2 \Bigl(\frac{\partial L}{\partial u_2}\Bigr) - D_x^3 \Bigl(\frac{\partial L} {\partial u_3} \Bigl) =0 \] with \(u_j=d^ju/dx^j\). For example, for the sixth-order equation of first Painlevé type, \[ \begin{multlined} L=t_3 \Bigl(-\frac 12 u_3^2 + 7u^5 -35 u^2u_1^2 +7uu_2^2 \Bigr)\\ + t_2 \Bigl(\frac 12 u_2^2 -5 u u_1^2 +\frac 52 u^4 \Bigr) + t_1 \Bigl(-\frac 12 u_1^2 + u^3 \Bigr) -xu.\end{multlined} \] Each Lagrangian is derived by using the fact that Jacobi's last multiplier is a constant.