New integrable lattice hierarchies

In this Letter we give a new integrable four-field lattice hierarchy, associated to a new discrete spectral problem. We obtain our hierarchy as the compatibility condition of this spectral problem and an associated equation, constructed herein, for the time-evolution of eigenfunctions. We consider reductions of our hierarchy, which also of course admit discrete zero curvature representations, in detail. We find that our hierarchy includes many well-known integrable hierarchies as special cases, including the Toda lattice hierarchy, the modified Toda lattice hierarchy, the relativistic Toda lattice hierarchy, and the Volterra lattice hierarchy. We also obtain here a new integrable two-field lattice hierarchy, to which we give the name of Suris lattice hierarchy, since the first equation of this hierarchy has previously been given by Suris. The Hamiltonian structure of the Suris lattice hierarchy is obtained by means of a trace identity formula. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.