On the linearization of the Painlevé III-VI equationsand reductions of the three-wave resonant system

We extend similarity reductions of the coupled ( 2 + 1 ) -dimensional three-wave resonant interaction system to its Lax pair. Thus we obtain new 3 × 3 matrix Fuchs-Garnier pairs for the third, fourth, and fifth Painlevé equations, together with the previously known Fuchs-Garnier pair for the sixth Painlevé equation. These Fuchs-Garnier pairs have an important feature: they are linear with respect to the spectral parameter. Therefore we can apply the Laplace transform to study these pairs. In this way we found reductions of all pairs to the standard 2 × 2 matrix Fuchs-Garnier pairs obtained by Jimbo and Miwa [ Physica D 2 , 407-448 ( 1981 )] . As an application of the 3 × 3 matrix pairs, we found an integral autotransformation for the standard Fuchs-Garnier pair for the fifth Painlevé equation. It generates an Okamoto-like Bäcklund transformation for the fifth Painlevé equation. Another application is an integral transformation relating two different 2 × 2 matrix Fuchs-Garnier pairs for the third Painlevé equation.