osp(N, 2) AKNS equations

The osp(N, 2) extension of the AKNS scheme is reconsidered. It leads to a general class of integrable nonlinear evolution equations for 2+N(N–1)/2 commuting and 2N anticommuting fields. by reduction, various osp(N, 2) versions of the Korteweg-de Vries equation can be obtained. One of these is shown to be bi-Hamiltonian and its second Hamiltonian structure corresponds to the classical limit of the so(N) superconformal algebra. The nonlinear Schrödinger and modified Korteweg-de Vries reductions are also briefly discussed.Work supported by NSerc and FCAR.