A non-commutative discrete first Painlev\'e hierarchy: the Lax pair approach

Abstract

Using a non-commutative analogue of the isomonodromic problem associated with the discrete first Painlev\'e hierarchy, we construct a non-commutative version of this hierarchy, denoted by $\text{d-PI}_m^{\text{nc}}$. We show that both hierarchies, $\text{d-PI}_m$ and $\text{d-PI}_m^{\text{nc}}$, can be expressed in terms of the polynomials $S_s^k(n)$, which we call the Svinin polynomials. We also derive a reduction of the non-commutative Volterra lattice hierarchy to the $\text{d-PI}_m^{\text{nc}}$ hierarchy and present explicit continuous limits for the first three members of the $\text{d-PI}_m^{\text{nc}}$, thereby recovering non-commutative analogues of the first three members of the differential first Painlev\'e hierarchy.