Ermakov–Painlevé II Symmetry Reduction of a Korteweg Capillarity System

A class of nonlinear Schrödinger equations involving a triad of power law terms together with a de Broglie–Bohm potential is shown to admit symmetry reduction to a hybrid Ermakov–Painlevé II equation which is linked, in turn, to the integrable Painlevé XXXIV equation. A nonlinear Schrödinger encapsulation of a Korteweg-type capillary system is thereby used in the isolation of such a Ermakov–Painlevé II reduction valid for a multiparameter class of free energy functions. Iterated application of a Bäcklund transformation then allows the construction of novel classes of exact solutions of the nonlinear capillarity system in terms of Yablonskii–Vorob’ev polynomials or classical Airy functions. A Painlevé XXXIV equation is derived for the density in the capillarity system and seen to correspond to the symmetry reduction of its Bernoulli integral of motion.