Hyperbolic Wavelet Approximation

We study the multivariate approximation by certain partial sums (hyperbolic wavelet sums) of wavelet bases formed by tensor products of univariate wavelets. We characterize spaces of functions which have a prescribed approximation error by hyperbolic wavelet sums in terms of a K -functional and interpolation spaces. The results parallel those for hyperbolic trigonometric cross approximation of periodic functions [DPT]. October 16, 1995. Date revised: August 28, 1996.     

Hardy Approximation to L p Functions on Subsets of the Circle with 1< =p< = infinity

We consider approximation of L ^p functions by Hardy functions on subsets of the circle for . After some preliminaries on the possibility of such an approximation which are connected to recovery problems of the Carleman type, we prove existence and uniqueness of the solution to a generalized extremal problem involving norm constraints on the complementary subset. December 6, 1995. Date revised: August 26, 1996.     

On Measures Induced by Extremal Signatures in Best Real Polynomial Approximation

We consider the limit distribution of measures μ _n , that appear in extremal signatures in the best polynomial approximation of a real-valued function . Relations between structural properties of the function f and weak-star limit points of (μ _n ) _n are proved. April 4, 1996. Date revised: October 25, 1996.     

On the Asymptotically Optimal Rate of Approximation of Multiplier Operators from L p into L q

The asymptotic behavior of the n -widths of multiplier operators from L _p [0,1] into L _q [0,1] is studied. General upper and lower bounds for the n -widths in terms of the multipliers are established. Moreover, it is shown that these upper and lower bounds coincide for some important concrete examples. August 3, 1994. Date revised: November 15, 1996.     

Polynomial Approximation of Conformal Maps

Let G be a finite domain, bounded by a Jordan curve Γ , and let f ₀ be a conformal map of G onto the unit disk. We are interested in the best rate of uniform convergence of polynomial approximation to f ₀ , in the case that Γ is piecewise-analytic without cusps. In particular, we consider the problem of approximating f ₀ by the Bieberbach polynomials π _n and derive results better than those in [5] and [6] for the case that the corners of Γ have interior angles of the form π/N . In the proof, the Lehman formulas for the asymptotic expansion of mapping functions near analytic corners are used. We study the question when these expansions contain logarithmic terms. December 6, 1995. Date revised: August 5, 1996.     

Critical Points and Error Rank in Best H 2 Matrix Rational Approximation of Fixed McMillan Degree

This paper deals with best rational approximation of prescribed McMillan degree to matrix-valued functions in the real Hardy space of the complement of the unit disk endowed with the Frobenius L ₂ -norm. We describe the topological structure of the set of approximants in terms of inner-unstable factorizations. This allows us to establish a two-sided tangential interpolation equation for the critical points of the criterion, and to prove that the rank of the error F-H is at most k-n when F is rational of degree k , and H is critical of degree n . In the particular case where k=n , it follows that H=F is the unique critical point, and this entails a local uniqueness result when approximating near-rational functions. January 23, 1996. Date revised: September 16, 1996.     

Uniform Asymptotic Expansions for Meixner Polynomials

Meixner polynomials m _n (x;β,c) form a postive-definite orthogonal system on the positive real line x > 0 with respect to a distribution step function whose jumps are Unlike classical orthogonal polynomials, they do not satisfy a second-order linear differential equation. In this paper, we derive two infinite asymptotic expansions for m _n (nα;β,c) as . One holds uniformly for , and the other holds uniformly for , where a and b are two small positive quantities. Both expansions involve the parabolic cylinder function and its derivative. Our results include all five asymptotic formulas recently given by W. M. Y. Goh as special cases. April 16, 1996. Date revised: October 30, 1996.     

A Problem of Totik on Fast Decreasing Polynomials

We solve a problem posed by V. Totik on the existence of fast-decreasing polynomials p _n of degree with p _n (0)=1 and for . For the largest c for which such polynomials exist was known. We give the solution for β > 2 . April 18, 1996.     

TURBS—Topologically Unrestricted Rational B-Splines

We present a new approach to the construction of piecewise polynomial or rational C ^k -spline surfaces of arbitrary topological structure. The basic idea is to use exclusively parametric smoothness conditions, and to solve the well-known problems at extraordinary points by admitting singular parametrizations. The smoothness of the spline surfaces is guaranteed by specifying a regular smooth reparametrization explicitly. The resulting space of topologically unrestricted rational B-splines (TURBS) is linear and possesses a natural refinement property. Compared with all known methods the construction principle of TURBS is of striking simplicity and the required polynomial bi-degree is essentially decreased from O(k ² ) to d=2k+2 . January 5, 1996. Date revised: September 5, 1996.     

Extremal Polynomials with Preassigned Zeros and Rational Approximants

Let p _n be the n th orthonormal polynomial with respect to a positive finite measure μ supported by Δ=[-1,1] . It is well known that, uniformly on compact subsets of C/Δ , and, for a large class of measures μ , where g _Ω (z) is Green's function of with pole at infinity. It is also well known that these limit relations give convergence of the diagonal Padé approximants of the Markov function to f on Ω with a certain geometric speed measured by g _Ω (z) . We prove corresponding results when we restrict the freedom of p _n by preassigning some of the zeros. This means that the Padé approximants are replaced by Padé-type approximants where some of the poles are preassigned. We also replace Δ by general compact subsets of C. July 12, 1995. Date revised: October 1, 1996.     

Multipoint Padé-Type Approximants. Exact Rate of Convergence

We study the rate with which sequences of interpolating rational functions, whose poles are partially fixed, approximate Markov-type analytic functions. Applications to interpolating quadratures are given. January 25, 1996. Date revised: December 26, 1996.     

On L p Extremal Polynomials

A Turán-type inequality for L _p extremal polynomials is given and mean convergence of Lagrange interpolation based on the zeros of L _p extremal polynomials is investigated. November 8, 1994. Date revised: January 23, 1997.     

Plancherel—Rotach Asymptotics for the Charlier Polynomials

We derive an asymptotic approximation of Plancherel—Rotach type for the Charlier polynomials on the positive real line. July 26, 1993. Date revised: December 2, 1996.     

Gaussian Versus Optimal Integration of Analytic Functions

We consider error estimates for optimal and Gaussian quadrature formulas if the integrand is analytic and bounded in a certain complex region. First, a simple technique for the derivation of lower bounds for the optimal error constants is presented. This method is applied to Szeg?-type weight functions and ellipses as regions of analyticity. In this situation, the error constants for the Gaussian formulas are close to the obtained lower bounds, which proves the quality of the Gaussian formulas and also of the lower bounds. In the sequel, different regions of analyticity are investigated. It turns out that almost exclusively for ellipses, the Gaussian formulas are near-optimal. For classes of simply connected regions of analyticity, which are additionally symmetric to the real axis, the asymptotic of the worst ratio between the error constants of the Gaussian formulas and the optimal error constants is calculated. As a by-product, we prove explicit lower bounds for the Christoffel-function for the constant weight function and arguments outside the interval of integration. September 7, 1995. Date revised: October 25, 1996.     

Property A in an Infinite-Dimensional Space. I

   Abstract. We prove that an infinite-dimensional space of piecewise polynomial functions of degree at most n-1 with infinitely many simple knots, n ≥ 2 , satisfies Property A. Apart from its independent interest, this result allows us to solve an open classical problem (n ≥ 3 ) in theory of best approximation: the uniqueness of best L ₁ -approximation by n -convex functions to an integrable, continuous function defined on a bounded interval. In this first part of the paper we prove the case n=2 and give key results in order to complete the general proof in the second part.     

Weak Chebyshev Subspaces and Continuous Selections for Parametric Projections

We examine the existence of continuous selections for the parametric projection onto weak Chebyshev subspaces. In particular, we show that if is the class of polynomial splines of degree n with the k fixed knots then the parametric projection admits a continuous selection if and only if the number of knots does not exceed the degree of splines plus one. February 15, 1996. Date revised: September 16, 1996.     

Constrained approximation by splines with free knots

In this paper, a method that combines shape preservation and least squares approximation by splines with free knots is developed. Besides the coefficients of the spline a subset of the knot sequence, the so-calledfree knots, is included in the optimization process resulting in a nonlinear least squares problem in both the coefficients and the knots. The original problem, a special case of aconstrained semi-linear least squares problem, is reduced to a problem that has only the knots of the spline as variables. The reduced problem is solved by a generalized Gauss-Newton method. Special emphasise is given to the efficient computation of the residual function and its Jacobian. Dedicated to our colleague and teacher Prof. Dr. J. W. Schmidt on the occasion of his 65th birthday Research of the first author was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft under grant Schm 968/2-1,2-2.     

More on Comonotone Polynomial Approximation

The main achievement of this paper is that we show, what was to us, a surprising conclusion, namely, twice continuously differentiable functions in (0,1) (with some regular behavior at the endpoints) which change monotonicity at least once in the interval, are approximable better by comonotone polynomials, than are such functions that are merely monotone. We obtain Jackson-type estimates for the comonotone polynomial approximation of such functions that are impossible to achieve for monotone approximation. July 7, 1998. Date revised: May 5, 1999. Date accepted: July 23, 1999.     

Elliptic Integral Inequalities, with Applications

The authors study monotoneity and convexity of certain combinations of elliptic integrals and obtain sharp inequalities for them. Applications are provided. November 23, 1994. Date revised: February 5, 1997.     

An Adaptive Compression Algorithm in Besov Spaces

Given a function f on [0,1] and a wavelet-type expansion of f , we introduce a new algorithm providing an approximation $\tilde f of f with a prescribed number D of nonzero coefficients in its expansion. This algorithm depends only on the number of coefficients to be kept and not on any smoothness assumption on f . Nevertheless it provides the optimal rate D ^-α of approximation with respect to the L _q -norm when f belongs to some Besov space B ^α _p,∈fty whenever α>(1/p-1/q) ⁺ . These results extend to more general expansions including splines and piecewise polynomials and to multivariate functions. Moreover, this construction allows us to compute easily the metric entropy of Besov balls. June 21, 1996. Dates revised: April 9, 1998; October 14, 1998. Date accepted: October 20, 1998.