Asymptotically extremal polynomials with respect to varying weights and application to Sobolev orthogonality

We study the asymptotic behavior of the zeros of a sequence of polynomials whose weighted norms, with respect to a sequence of weight functions, have the same nth root asymptotic behavior as the weighted norms of certain extremal polynomials. This result is applied to obtain the (contracted) weak zero distribution for orthogonal polynomials with respect to a Sobolev inner product with exponential weights of the form e−φ(x), giving a unified treatment for the so-called Freud (i.e., when φ has polynomial growth at infinity) and Erdös (when φ grows faster than any polynomial at infinity) cases. In addition, we provide a new proof for the bound of the distance of the zeros to the convex hull of the support for these Sobolev orthogonal polynomials.     

On the distribution of simple zeros of polynomials

Erd s and Turán discussed in (Ann. of Math. 41 (1940), 162–173; 51 (1950), 105–119) the distribution of the zeros of monic polynomials if their Chebyshev norm on [−1, 1] or on the unit disk is known. We sharpen this result to the case that all zeros of the polynomials are simple. As applications, estimates for the distribution of the zeros of orthogonal polynomials and the distribution of the alternation points in Chebyshev polynomial approximation are given. This last result sharpens a well-known error bound of Kadec (Amer. Math. Soc. Transl. 26 (1963), 231–234).     

A simple characterization of weighted Sobolev spaces with bounded multiplication operator

In this paper we give a simple characterization of weighted Sobolev spaces (with piecewise monotone weights) such that the multiplication operator is bounded: it is bounded if and only if the support of μ₀ is large enough. We also prove some basic properties of the appropriate weighted Sobolev spaces. To have bounded multiplication operator has important consequences in Approximation Theory: it implies the uniform bound of the zeros of the corresponding Sobolev orthogonal polynomials, and this fact allows to obtain the asymptotic behavior of Sobolev orthogonal polynomials.     

The L p-weighted Lagrange interpolation on Markov--Sonin zeros

Summary We study a truncated interpolation process based on the zeros of the Markov--Sonin polynomials and give convergence results in some subspaces of the L^p weighted spaces.     

Erd s–Turán Type Theorems on Quasiconformal Curves and Arcs

The theorems of Erd s and Turán mentioned in the title are concerned with the distribution of zeros of a monic polynomial with known uniform norm along the unit interval or the unit disk. Recently, Blatt and Grothmann (Const. Approx.7(1991), 19–47), Grothmann (“Interpolation Points and Zeros of Polynomials in Approximation Theory,” Habilitationsschrift, Katholische Universität Eichstätt, 1992), and Andrievskii and Blatt (J. Approx. Theory88(1977), 109–134) established corresponding results for polynomials, considered on a system of sufficiently smooth Jordan curves and arcs or piecewise smooth curves and arcs. We extend some of these results to polynomials with known uniform norm along an arbitrary quasiconformal curve or arc. As applications, estimates for the distribution of the zeros of best uniform approximants, values of orthogonal polynomials, and zeros of Bieberbach polynomials and their derivatives are obtained. We also give a negative answer to one conjecture of Eiermann and Stahl (“Zeros of orthogonal polynomials on regularN-gons,” in Lecture Notes in Math.1574(1994), 187–189).     

Quadrature Rules for L 1-Weighted Norms of Orthogonal Polynomials

In this paper, we obtain L ¹-weighted norms of classical orthogonal polynomials (Hermite, Laguerre and Jacobi polynomials) in terms of the zeros of these orthogonal polynomials; these expressions are usually known as quadrature rules. In particular, these new formulae are useful to calculate directly some positive defined integrals as several examples show.

     

The Nullstellensatz for Systems of PDE

Given an ideal I in , the polynomial ring in n-indeterminates, the affine variety of I is the set of common zeros in ⁿ of all the polynomials that belong to I, and the Hilbert Nullstellensatz states that there is a bijective correspondence between these affine varieties and radical ideals of . If, on the other hand, one thinks of a polynomial as a (constant coefficient) partial differential operator, then instead of its zeros in ⁿ, one can consider its zeros, i.e., its homogeneous solutions, in various function and distribution spaces. An advantage of this point of view is that one can then consider not only the zeros of ideals of , but also the zeros of submodules of free modules over (i.e., of systems of PDEs). The question then arises as to what is the analogue here of the Hilbert Nullstellensatz. The answer clearly depends on the function–distribution space in which solutions of PDEs are being located, and this paper considers the case of the classical spaces. This question is related to the more general question of embedding a partial differential system in a (two-sided) complex with minimal homology. This paper also explains how these questions are related to some questions in control theory.     

Where does the sup norm of a weighted polynomial live?

A characterization is given of the sets supporting the uniform norms of weighted polynomials [w(x)] ⁿ P _n (x), whereP _n is any polynomial of degree at mostn. The (closed) support ∑ ofw(x) may be bounded or unbounded; of special interest is the case whenw(x) has a nonempty zero setZ. The treatment of weighted polynomials consists of associating each admissible weight with a certain functional defined on subsets of ∑ —Z. One main result of this paper states that there is a unique compact set (independent ofn andP _n ) maximizing this functional that contains the points where the norms of weighted polynomials are attained. The distribution of the zeros of Chebyshev polynomials corresponding to the weights [w(x)] ⁿ is also studied. The main theorems give a unified method of investigating many particular examples. Applications to weighted approximation on the real line with respect to a fixed weight are included.     

Behavior of zeros of polynomials of near best approximation

The purpose of this paper is to study the asymptotic behavior of the zeros of polynomials of near best approximation to continuous functions f on a compact set E in the case when f is analytic on the interior of E but not everywhere on the boundary. For example, suppose E is a finite union of compact intervals of the real line and f is a continuous function on E, but is not analytic on E; then we show (cf. Corollary 2.2) that every point of E is a limit point of zeros of the polynomials of best uniform approximation to f on E. This fact answers a question posed by P. Borwein who showed that, for the case when E is a single interval and f is real-valued, then the above hypotheses on f imply that at least one point of E is the limit point of zeros of such polynomials.     

Asymptotic zero distribution of a class of 3F2 hypergeometric functions

We study the asymptotic behavior of the zeros of certain families of ₃F₂ functions. Classical tools are used to analyse the asymptotic behavior of the zeros of the polynomial In addition, families of ₃F₂ functions that are connected in a formulaic sense with Gauss hypergeometric polynomials of the form and are investigated. Numerical evidence of the clustering o zeros on certain curves is generated by Mathematica.     

Constrained near-minimax approximation by weighted expansion and interpolation using Chebyshev polynomials of the second,third, and fourth kinds

Well known results on near-minimax approximation using Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind are here extended to Chebyshev polynomials of the second, third, and fourth kinds. Specifically, polynomial approximations of degreen weighted by (1–x ²)^1/2, (1+x)^1/2 or (1–x)^1/2 are obtained as partial sums of weighted expansions in Chebyshev polynomials of the second, third, or fourth kinds, respectively, to a functionf continuous on [–1, 1] and constrained to vanish, respectively, at ±1, –1 or +1. In each case a formula for the norm of the resulting projection is determined and shown to be asymptotic to 4^–2logn +A +o(1), and this provides in each case and explicit bound on the relative closeness of a minimax approximation. The constantA that occurs for the second kind polynomial is markedly smaller, by about 0.27, than that for the third and fourth kind, while the latterA is identical to that for the first kind, where the projection norm is the classical Lebesgue constant _n . The results on the third and fourth kind polynomials are shown to relate very closely to previous work of P.V. Galkin and of L. Brutman.Analogous approximations are also obtained by interpolation at zeros of second, third, or fourth kind polynomials of degreen+1, and the norms of resulting projections are obtained explicitly. These are all observed to be asymptotic to 2^–1logn +B +o(1), and so near-minimax approximations are again obtained. The norms for first, third, and fourth kind projections appear to be converging to each other. However, for the second kind projection, we prove that the constantB is smaller by a quantity asymptotic to 2^–1log2, based on a conjecture about the point of attainment of the supremum defining the projection norm, and we demonstrate that the projection itself is remarkably close to a minimal (weighted) interpolation projection.All four kinds of Chebyshev polynomials possess a weighted minimax property, and, in consequence, all the eight approximations discussed here coincide with minimax approximations when the functionf is a suitably weighted polynomial of degreen+1.     

On the Zeros of Polynomials of Best Approximation

Given a function f, uniform limit of analytic polynomials on a compact, regular set E ^N, we relate analytic extension properties of f to the location of the zeros of the best polynomial approximants to f in either the uniform norm on E or in appropriate L^q norms. These results give multivariable versions of one-variable results due to Blatt–Saff, Ple niak and Wójcik.     

On Lp -Discrepancy of Signed Measures

We consider L ^p -discrepancy estimates between two Borel measures supported on the interval [-1, 1] and give applications to the distribution of zeros of orthogonal polynomials. Thereby we obtain a new interpretation to the different local zero behavior of Pollaczek polynomials. June 16, 2000. Date accepted: December 26, 2000.     

On the boundary value problem of the biharmonic operator on domains with angular corners

The paper is concerned with boundary singularities of weak solutions of boundary value problems governed by the biharmonic operator. The presence of angular corner points or points at which the type of boundary condition changes in general causes local singularities in the solution. For that case the general theory of V. A. Kondrat'ev provides a priori estimates in weighted Sobolev norms and asymptotic singular representations for the solution which essentially depend on the zeros of certain transcendental functions. The distribution of these zeros will be analysed in detail for the biharmonic operator under several boundary conditions. This leads to sharp a priori estimates in weighted Sobolev norms where the weight function is characterized by the inner angle of the boundary corner. Such estimates for “negative” Sobolev norms are used to analyse also weakly nonlinear perturbations of the biharmonic operator as, for instance, the von Kármán model in plate bending theory and the stream function formulation of the steady state Navier-Stokes problem. It turns out that here the structure of the corner singularities is essentially the same as in the corresponding linear problem.     

Trajectories of the zeros of hypergeometric polynomials F(−n, b; 2b; z) for b < − 1/2

In a previous paper [2] we studied the zeros of hypergeometric polynomials F(−n, b; 2b; z), where b is a real parameter. Making connections with ultraspherical polynomials, we showed that for b > − 1/2 all zeros of F(−n, b; 2b; z) lie on the circle |z − 1| = 1, while for b < 1 − n all zeros are real and greater than 1. Our purpose now is to describe the trajectories of the zeros as b descends below the critical value − 1/2 to 1 − n. The results have counterparts for ultraspherical polynomials and may be said to “explain” the classical formulas of Hilbert and Klein for the number of zeros of Jacobi polynomials in various intervals of the real axis. These applications and others are discussed in a further paper [3].     

New inequalities from classical Sturm theorems

Inequalities satisfied by the zeros of the solutions of second-order hypergeometric equations are derived through a systematic use of Liouville transformations together with the application of classical Sturm theorems. This systematic study allows us to improve previously known inequalities and to extend their range of validity as well as to discover inequalities which appear to be new. Among other properties obtained, Szegő's bounds on the zeros of Jacobi polynomials for , are completed with results for the rest of parameter values, Grosjean's inequality (J. Approx. Theory 50 (1987) 84) on the zeros of Legendre polynomials is shown to be valid for Jacobi polynomials with |β|1, bounds on ratios of consecutive zeros of Gauss and confluent hypergeometric functions are derived as well as an inequality involving the geometric mean of zeros of Bessel functions.     

Asymptotics for zeros of Szeg polynomials associated with trigonometric polynomial signals

The study of Wiener-Levinson digital filters leads to certain classes of polynomials orthogonal on the unit circle (Szeg polynomials). Here we present theorems that show that the unknown frequencies in a periodic discrete time signal can be determined from the limiting behavior (as N → ∞) of the zeros of fixed degree Szeg polynomials that are orthogonal with respect to a distribution defined from N successive samples of the signal. This proves an essential part of a conjecture due to Jones, Njåstad, and Saff concerning the frequency analysis problem.     

On the theory of the matching polynomial

In this paper we report on the properties of the matching polynomial α(G) of a graph G. We present a number of recursion formulas for α(G), from which it follows that many families of orthogonal polynomials arise as matching polynomials of suitable families of graphs. We consider the relation between the matching and characteristic polynomials of a graph. Finally, we consider results which provide information on the zeros of α(G).     

Uniqueness and zeros of <Emphasis Type="Italic">q</Emphasis>-shift difference polynomials

In this paper, we consider the zero distributions of q-shift difference polynomials of meromorphic functions with zero order, and obtain two theorems that extend the classical Hayman results on the zeros of differential polynomials to q-shift difference polynomials. We also investigate the uniqueness problem of q-shift difference polynomials that share a common value.