Darboux transformations for 5-point and 7-point self-adjoint schemes and an integrable discretization of the 2D Schrodinger operator

With this paper we begin an investigation of difference schemes that possess Darboux transformations and can be regarded as natural discretizations of elliptic partial differential equations. We construct, in particular, the Darboux transformations for the general self adjoint schemes with five and seven neighbouring points. We also introduce a distinguished discretization of the two-dimensional stationary Schrodinger equation, described by a 5-point difference scheme involving two potentials, which admits a Darboux transformation.