Hamiltonians for the quantised Volterra hierarchy

Abstract This paper builds upon our recent work, published in Carpentier et al (2022 Lett. Math. Phys. 112 94), where we established that the integrable Volterra lattice on a free associative algebra and the whole hierarchy of its symmetries admit a quantisation dependent on a parameter ω . We also uncovered an intriguing aspect: all odd-degree symmetries of the hierarchy admit an alternative, non-deformation quantisation, resulting in a non-commutative algebra for any choice of the quantisation parameter ω . In this study, we demonstrate that each equation within the quantum Volterra hierarchy can be expressed in the Heisenberg form. We provide explicit expressions for all quantum Hamiltonians and establish their commutativity. In the classical limit, these quantum Hamiltonians yield explicit expressions for the classical ones of the commutative Volterra hierarchy. Furthermore, we present Heisenberg equations and their Hamiltonians in the case of non-deformation quantisation. Finally, we discuss commuting first integrals, central elements of the quantum algebra, and the integrability problem for periodic reductions of the Volterra lattice in the context of both quantisations.