On special solutions to the Ermakov–Painlevé XXV equation

Abstract

In this paper, we study a nonlinear second-order ordinary differential equation which we call the Ermakov–Painlevé XXV equation since under certain restrictions on its coefficients it can be reduced either to the Ermakov or the Painlevé XXV equation. The Ermakov–Painlevé XXV equation arises from a generalized Riccati equation and the related third-order linear differential equation via the Schwarzian derivative. The generalized Riccati equation has two families of Riccati solutions and we study the corresponding solutions to the Ermakov–Painlevé XXV equation. We show that one of these families appears only in the Ermakov case. We give examples of the Ermakov–Painlevé XXV equations and show how to construct their solutions expressed in terms of elementary or in terms of the classical special functions.