Lett Math Phys (2016) 106:433–444

DOI 10.1007/s11005-016-0822-1

A Class of Integrable Non-QRT Mappings

and Their Deautonomisation

ALFRED RAMANI1,2 and BASILE GRAMMATICOS2

1 Centre de Physique Théorique, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
2 IMNC, Université Paris VII & XI, CNRS, UMR 8165, Bât. 440, 91406 Orsay, France.
e-mail: grammati@paris7.jussieu.fr; grammaticos@imnc.in2p3.fr

Received: 15 April 2015 / Revised: 21 January 2016 / Accepted: 22 January 2016

Published online: 5 February 2016 – © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016

Abstract. We study classes of mappings which do not belong to the QRT family. We obtain
several integrable non-autonomous forms of these mappings extending previous results
where only linearisable cases were found. Using our recently introduced method of singu-
larity confinement with full deautonomisation, we analyse a mapping which, while non-
integrable, does possess confined singularities and show that our method makes it possible
to obtain the exact value of its algebraic entropy.

Mathematics Subject Classification. 37J35, 39A10, 39A13, 58K20.

Keywords. QRT mappings, integrability, deautonomisation, singularities.

1. Introduction
The QRT mapping [1], introduced by Quispel, Roberts and Thompson, is one of
the fundamental integrable discrete systems. It has been the par excellence testing
ground for discrete integrability criteria and has been instrumental in the deriva-
tion of discrete Painlevé equations. In its symmetric form the QRT mapping can
be written as
f 1 (xn ) − xn−1 f 2 (xn )
xn+1 = (1)
f 2 (xn ) − xn−1 f 3 (xn )
where the f i are specific quartic polynomials in x. The symmetric QRT mapping
possesses an invariant which can be written as a ratio of two biquadratic polyno-
mials in xn and xn−1 :
2 x 2 +β x
α0 xn−1 2 2
n 0 n−1 x n (x n−1 +x n )+γ0 (x n−1 + x n ) + 0 x n−1 x n + ζ0 (x n−1 + x n ) + μ0
K (xn , xn−1 ) = ,
2 x2 + β x
α1 xn−1 2 2
n 1 n−1 x n (x n−1 + x n ) + γ1 (x n−1 + x n ) + 1 x n−1 x n + ζ1 (x n−1 + x n ) + μ1
(2)

where the invariance relation is K (xn , xn−1 ) = K (xn+1 , xn ). The solution of the
QRT mapping can be expressed in terms of elliptic functions. An asymmetric form
does also exist and is presented as a system of two coupled first-order mappings.
434 ALFRED RAMANI AND BASILE GRAMMATICOS

Given the importance of integrable second-order mappings, one may wonder

whether there exist integrable systems of the same order which lie outside the QRT
parametrisation. It turns out that the answer is affirmative. One such large class
is to be found in the work of the present authors in collaboration with Hirota
et al. [2]. The main difference between these mappings, usually referred to by the
acronym HKY, and the QRT ones is that their invariant is a ratio of two poly-
nomials of degree 4 (and sometimes higher) in the variables xn and xn−1 . In fact,
the bi-quartic HKY invariant K is usually related to a QRT invariant K through
an invariance relation of the form K (xn , xn−1 ) = −K (xn+1 , xn ) or K (xn , xn−1 ) =
1/K (xn+1 , xn ). We have thus an invariant K = K 2 or K = K + 1/K , respectively,
and the invariant curve for HKY mappings is a product of two curves of QRT
type. Typically the latter is the product (K − c)(K + c) = 0 if K = K 2 and (cK −
1)(c/K − 1) = 0 if K = K + 1/K . Iteration on one of the factored QRT curves means
that we iterate, with double step, on the invariant curve of the original mapping.
In this sense the HKY mappings can be considered as a kind of “square root” of
the QRT ones.
Another way to extend the QRT mapping would be by doing away with the
canonical forms, which we have obtained in [3] from the autonomous limits of dis-
crete Painlevé equations. The first few of these canonical forms are
(I) xn+1 + xn−1 = R(xn )
(II) xn+1 xn−1 = R(xn )
(III) (xn+1 + xn )(xn + xn−1 ) = R(xn )
(IV) (xn+1 xn − 1)(xn xn−1 − 1) = R(xn ),
where R(xn ) is a ratio of two specific quadratic polynomials for classes (I) and
(II) and a ratio of a quartic to a quadratic polynomial for classes (III) and (IV).
Inspired by these canonical forms, we can, for the last three classes, introduce non-
QRT forms by inverting one of the factors leading to mappings of the form
(II ) xn+1 = xn−1 S(xn )

(III ) (xn+1 + xn ) = (xn + xn−1 )S(xn )

(IV ) (xn+1 xn − 1) = (xn xn−1 − 1)S(xn ),
where S(xn ) is now a rational function the precise form of which can be fixed only
by a requirement of integrability. In fact, all these mappings are of the form
f 1 (xn ) − xn−1 f 2 (xn )
xn+1 = , (3)
f 4 (xn ) − xn−1 f 3 (xn )
where f 4 (x) = f 2 (x) and moreover f 3 (x) = 0. Mappings of the class (II ) have been
studied in [4]. Two most interesting results were obtained in that study. First we
have shown that the mapping
 
1
xn+1 = xn−1 xn − + a (4)
xn