A Hamiltonian structure associated with a matrix spectral problem of arbitrary-order

Starting from a specific matrix iso-spectral problem, an associated hierarchy of multi-component Hamiltonian equations is constructed, based on zero curvature equations. The key point is to choose appropriate time parts of Lax pairs which can yield evolution equations, and the existence of a Hamiltonian structure for the obtained hierarchy is established by means of the trace identity. An example with five components is computed, along with its Hamiltonian structure. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.