§32.2 Differential Equations
Contents
- §32.2(i) Introduction
- §32.2(ii) Renormalizations
- §32.2(iii) Alternative Forms
- §32.2(iv) Elliptic Form
- §32.2(v) Symmetric Forms
- §32.2(vi) Coalescence Cascade
§32.2(i) Introduction
The six Painlevé equations
–
are as follows:
with
,
,
, and
arbitrary constants. The
solutions of
–
are called the Painlevé transcendents. The six
equations are sometimes referred to as the Painlevé transcendents, but in this chapter
this term will be used only for their solutions.
Let
be a nonlinear second-order differential equation in which
is a rational
function of
and
, and is locally analytic in
,
that is, analytic except for isolated singularities in
. In general
the singularities of the solutions are movable in the sense that their
location depends on the constants of integration associated with the initial or
boundary conditions. An equation is said to have the Painlevé property
if all its solutions are free from movable branch points; the solutions
may have movable poles or movable isolated essential singularities
(§1.10(iii)), however.
There are fifty equations with the Painlevé property. They are distinct modulo Möbius (bilinear) transformations
in which
,
,
,
, and
are locally analytic
functions. The fifty equations can be reduced to linear equations, solved in
terms of elliptic functions (Chapters 22 and 23), or reduced
to one of
–
.
For arbitrary values of the parameters
,
,
, and
, the general solutions of
–
are transcendental,
that is, they cannot be expressed in closed-form elementary functions. However,
for special values of the parameters, equations
–
have special
solutions in terms of elementary functions, or special functions defined
elsewhere in the DLMF.
§32.2(ii) Renormalizations
If
in
, then set
and
,
without loss of generality, by rescaling
and
if necessary. If
and
in
, then set
and
, without loss of generality. Lastly, if
and
, then set
and
, without loss of
generality.
If
in
, then set
, without loss of
generality.
§32.2(iii) Alternative Forms
In
, if
with
, then
which is known as
.
In
, if
,
, and
, then
In
, if
with
and
, then
When
this is a nonlinear harmonic oscillator.
In
, if
with
, then
§32.2(iv) Elliptic Form
§32.2(v) Symmetric Forms
Let
where
,
,
are constants,
,
,
are
functions of
, with
Then
satisfies
with
See Noumi and Yamada (1998).
Next, let
where
,
,
,
are constants,
,
,
,
are functions of
, with
Then
satisfies
with
§32.2(vi) Coalescence Cascade
–
are obtained from
by a coalescence cascade:
For example, if in ![]()
then
thus in the limit as
,
satisfies
with
.
If in ![]()
then as
,
satisfies
with
,
.
If in ![]()
then as
,
satisfies
with
,
.
If in ![]()
then as
,
satisfies
with
,
,
,
,
.
If in ![]()
then as
,
satisfies
with
,
,
.
Lastly, if in ![]()
then as
,
satisfies
with
,
,
,
,
.


