A lattice hierarchy and its continuous limits

By introducing a discrete spectral problem, we derive a lattice hierarchy which is integrable in Liouville's sense and possesses a multi-Hamiltonian structure. It is show that the discrete spectral problem converges to the well-known AKNS spectral problem under a certain continuous limit. In particular, we construct a sequence of equations in the lattice hierarchy which approximates the AKNS hierarchy as a continuous limit.