Abstract
Within the zero curvature formulation, a hierarchy of integrable lattice equations is constructed from an arbitrary-order matrix discrete spectral problem of Ablowitz-Ladik type. The existence of infinitely many symmetries and conserved functionals is a consequence of the Lax operator algebra and the trace identity. When the involved two potential vectors are scalar, all the resulting integrable lattice equations are reduced to the standard Ablowitz-Ladik hierarchy.