Monomial orthogonal polynomials of several variables (Q1775008)

This is an interesting contribution to the theory of orthogonal polynomials in several variables with respect to weight functions with reflection symmetries [see \textit{C.F. Dunkl} and \textit{Y. Xu}, Orthogonal polynomials of several variables. Encyclopedia of Mathematics and Its Applications 81 (Cambridge Univ. Press) (2001; Zbl 0964.33001)] for a general background. An important tool in this theory are Dunkl operators. The focus of the present paper is on questions concerning best approximation on spheres, balls and simplices in the \(L^2\)-norm. The basic results are those for spheres, the results in the other cases are closely related. The author considers the unit sphere \(S^d\subset \mathbb R^{d+1}\) with the weight function \(h_\kappa^2\) where \(h_\kappa(x) = \prod_{i=1}^{d+1} | x_i| ^{\kappa_i}\) with exponents \(\kappa_i \geq 0\). In Section 2, he constructs a family \((R_\alpha, \, \alpha\in \mathbb N_0)\) of so-called monomial orthogonal polynomials on the sphere. \(R_\alpha\) is characterized as the unique polynomial of the form \(x^\alpha -P(x)\), with \(P\) of total degree less than \(| \alpha| \), which minimizes the \(L^2\)-norm on the sphere with repect to the above weight. The \(R_\alpha\) are constructed from a generalized Poisson kernel and given in terms of a modified Lauricella hypergeometric series. They are homogeneous of degree \(| \alpha| \) as polynomials in \(\mathbb R^{d+1}\) and harmonic with respect to the corresponding Dunkl Laplacian; as a consequence, they are orthogonal in the sense that each \(R_\alpha\) is orthogonal to all polynomials of lower total degree. However, those of the same total degree are not linearly independent. A Rodrigues formula and recurrence relation for the \(R_\alpha\) are given as well. In Section 3, explicit bases for the spaces of symmetric, i.e. \(S_{d+1}\)-invariant Dunkl-harmonics (of fixed degree) are constructed in a natural way from the polynomials \(R_\alpha\). In Section 4, the (weighted) \(L^2\)-norm of the minimizing polynomial \(R_\alpha\) is calculated. In general, this norm is expressed as a complicated series involving integrals of \(d+1\)-fold products of Jacobi polynomials. It is reduced to a simplified form in particular cases. There is a known orthogonal basis of each space of Dunkl type (h-)harmonics of fixed degree; its elements are given in terms of generalized Gegenbauer polynomials. In Section 5, the expansion of the \(R_\alpha\) w.r.t. this basis is determined. Counterparts of the central results for correpsonding weights on balls and standard simplices are also included.