A rigid body dynamics derived from a class of extended Gaudin models: an integrable discretization

We consider a hierarchy of classical Liouville completely integrable models sharing the same (linear) $r$-matrix structure obtained through an $N$-th jet-extension of $\mathfrak{su}(2)$ rational Gaudin models. The main goal of the present paper is the study of the integrable model corresponding to $N=3$, since the case $N=2$ has been considered by the authors in separate papers, both in the one-body case (Lagrange top) and in the $n$-body one (Lagrange chain). We now obtain a rigid body associated with a Lie–Poisson algebra which is an extension of the Lie–Poisson structure for the two-field top, thus breaking its semidirect product structure. In the second part of the paper we construct an integrable discretization of a suitable continuous Hamiltonian flow for the system. The map is constructed following the theory of Bäcklund transformations for finite-dimensional integrable systems developed by V.B. Kuznetsov and E.K. Sklyanin.