Quadratic spectral Lax pair for zero-parameter Painlevé II ($w^{\prime }=2u^{\prime }w/u,u^{\prime \prime }+u(w+z/2)=0$)

Let $A$ have diagonal entries $\pm ({\lambda }^2+w+z/2)$ and off-diagonal entries $u\lambda +u^{\prime }$ and $-2w\lambda /u+2u^{\prime }w/u^2$. Let $B$ have diagonal entries $\pm \lambda /2$ and off-diagonal entries $u/2,-w/u$. Substitution into the isomonodromic deformation compatibility identity gives the displayed equations on domains with $u\ne 0$. Thus $(w/u^2{)}^{\prime }=0$, so $w=C{u}^2$ and $u^{\prime \prime }+C{u}^3+zu/2=0$, a rescaled zero-parameter Painlevé II equation when $C\ne 0$. The leading coefficient $-2w/u$ is required by cancellation of the quadratic spectral terms.