Symbolic Detection of Permutation and Parity Symmetries of Evolution Equations

Abstract

We introduce a symbolic computational approach to detecting all permutation and parity symmetries in any general evolution equation, and to generating associated invariant polynomials, from given monomials, under the action of these symmetries. Traditionally, discrete point symmetries of differential equations are systemically found by solving complicated nonlinear systems of partial differential equations; in the presence of Lie symmetries, the process can be simplified further. Here, we show how to find parity- and permutation-type discrete symmetries purely based on algebraic calculations. Furthermore, we show that such symmetries always form groups, thereby allowing for the generation of new group-invariant conserved quantities from known conserved quantities. This work also contains an implementation of the said results in Mathematica. In addition, it includes, as a motivation for this work, an investigation of the connection between variational symmetries, described by local Lie groups, and conserved quantities in Hamiltonian systems.