Conservation Laws of Discrete Evolution Equations by Symmetries and Adjoint Symmetries

A direct approach is proposed for constructing conservation laws of discrete evolution equations, regardless of the existence of a Lagrangian. The approach utilizes pairs of symmetries and adjoint symmetries, in which adjoint symmetries make up for the disadvantage of non-Lagrangian structures in presenting a correspondence between symmetries and conservation laws. Applications are made for the construction of conservation laws of the Volterra lattice equation.