Ermakov systems of arbitrary order and dimension: structure and linearization

Ermakov systems of arbitrary order and dimension are constructed. These inherit an underlying linear structure based on that recently established for the classical Ermakov system. As an application, alignment of a (2 + 1)-dimensional Ermakov and integrable Ernst system is shown to produce a novel integrable hybrid of a (2 + 1)-dimensional sinh - Gordon system and of a conventional Ermakov system.