On the Lagrangian structure of integrable hierarchies

We develop the concept of pluri-Lagrangian structures for integrable hierarchies. This is a continuous counterpart of the pluri-Lagrangian (or Lagrangian multiform) theory of integrable lattice systems. We derive the multi-time Euler Lagrange equations in their full generality for hierarchies of two-dimensional systems, and construct a pluri-Lagrangian formulation of the potential Korteweg-de Vries hierarchy.