Perturbative Symmetry Approach for Differential-Difference Equations

Abstract: We propose a new method for solution of the integrability problem for evolutionary differential-difference equations of arbitrary order. It enables us to produce necessary integrability conditions, to determine whether a given equation is integrable or not, and to advance in classification of integrable equations. In this paper we define and develop symbolic representation for the difference polynomial ring, difference operators and formal series. In order to formulate necessary integrability conditions, we introduce a novel quasi-local extension of the difference ring. It enables us to progress in classification of integrable differential-difference evolutionary equations of arbitrary order. In particular, we solve the problem of classification of integrable equations of order $(-3,3)$ for the important subclass of quasi-linear equations and produce a list of 17 equations satisfying the necessary integrability conditions. For every equation from the list we present an infinite family of integrable higher order relatives. Some of the equations obtained are new.