Lax Integrability and Exact Solutions of a Variable-Coefficient and Nonisospectral AKNS Hierarchy

In this paper, a variable-coefficient and nonisospectral Ablowitz-Kaup-Newell-Segur (vcniAKNS) hierarchy with Lax integrability is constructed by embedding a finite number of differentiable and time-dependent functions into the well-known AKNS spectral problem and its time evolution equation. In the framework of inverse scattering transform method with time-varying spectral parameter, the constructed vcniAKNS hierarchy is solved exactly. As a result, exact solutions and their reduced n-soliton solutions of the vcniAKNS hierarchy are obtained. It is graphically shown that the parity of an embedded time-dependent function has connection with the symmetrical characteristics of the spatial structures and singular points of the obtained one-soliton solutions.