Volterra lattice

In mathematics, the Volterra lattice, also known as the discrete KdV equation, the Kac–van Moerbeke lattice, and the Langmuir lattice, is a system of ordinary differential equations with variables indexed by some of the points of a 1-dimensional lattice. It was introduced by Marc Kac and Pierre van Moerbeke (1975) and Jürgen Moser (1975) and is named after Vito Volterra. The Volterra lattice is a special case of the generalized Lotka–Volterra equation describing predator–prey interactions, for a sequence of species with each species preying on the next in the sequence. The Volterra lattice also behaves like a discrete version of the KdV equation. The Volterra lattice is an integrable system, and is related to the Toda lattice. It is also used as a model for Langmuir waves in plasmas.