HIGHER-DIMENSIONAL GENERALIZATIONS OF THE EULER TOP EQUATIONS

Generalisations of the familiar Euler top equations in three dimension s are proposed which admit a sufficiently large number of conservation laws to permit integrability by quadratures. The usual top is a class ical analogue of the Nahm equations. One of the examples discussed her e is a seven-dimensional Euler top, which arises as a classical counte rpart to the eight-dimensional self-dual equations which are currently believed to play a role in new developments in string theory. (C) 199 8 Elsevier Science B.V.