Soliton equations and differential geometry (Q1364629)

The equation for harmonic maps from the Lorentz space \(\mathbb{R}^{1,1}\) to a symmetric space, and the equation for isometric immersions of space forms into space forms have many of the same properties as soliton equations -- for example, they have Lax pairs and Bäcklund transformations. We find Hamiltonian formulations for these equations and explain how they fit into the general theory of soliton equations. We construct the AKNS-ZS \(n\times n\) hierarchy, conservation laws and its sequence of symplectic structures by applying the Adler-Kostant-Syme theorem to the loop algebra of affine Kac-Moody algebras. In particular, we associate to each symmetric space \(U/K\) a hierarchy of commuting flows. Using the \(n\) first flows associated to the rank \(n\) symmetric space \(U/K\), we construct a system for \(v:\mathbb{R}^n \to {\mathcal P}\): \[ [a_i,v_{x_j}]-[a_j,v_{x_i}] =\bigl[[a_i,v], [a_j, v] \bigr], \quad i\neq j. \] The techniques in soliton theory can then be applied to study these systems. We also show that (i) solutions of the \((-1)\)-flow associated to \(U/K\) give harmonic maps from \(\mathbb{R}^{1,1}\) to \(U/K\); (ii) the equation for isometric immersions from a space form \(N^n(c)\) of constant curvature \(c\) into a space form \(N^{2n}(c)\) of maximal rank is the system for \(v\) above associated to the symmetric space \(M_c(n)\), where \[ M_c(n) = \begin{cases} SO(2n,1)/S \bigl(O(n) \times O(n,1)\bigr), \quad & \text{if } c=-1, \\ SO(2n)/S \bigl(O(n) \times O(n) \bigr), \quad & \text{if } c=0, \\ SO(2n+1)/S \bigl(O(n) \times O(n+1)\bigr), \quad & \text{if } c=1. \end{cases}. \]