Cosymmetries and Nijenhuis recursion operators for difference equations

In this paper we discuss the concept of cosymmetries and co-recursion operators for difference equations and present a co-recursion operator for the Viallet equation. We also discover a new type of factorization for the recursion operators of difference equations. This factorization enables us to give an elegant proof that the pseudo-difference operator R presented in Mikhailov et al 2011 Theor. Math. Phys. 167 421-43 is a recursion operator for the Viallet equation. Moreover, we show that the operator R is Nijenhuis and thus generates infinitely many commuting local symmetries. The recursion operator R and its factorization into Hamiltonian and symplectic operators have natural applications to Yamilov's discretization of the Krichever-Novikov equation.