Asymptotic zero distribution of complex orthogonal polynomials associated with Gaussian quadrature (Q619063)

The authors study the limit behavior of the zeros of the polynomials that are orthogonal with respect to an oscillatory weight function of exponential type along a path \(\Gamma\) in the complex plane, \[ \int_\Gamma\pi_n(z)z^ke^{iz^r}\,dz=0,\quad k=0,1,\dots,n-1, \] such that the integral is well defined. The parameter \(r\geq 2\) is an integer and in this paper the case \(r=3\) is considered. The zeros of these polynomials are the nodes for the complex Gaussian quadrature of an oscillatory integral on the real axis with a high order stationary point, and their limit distribution is also analyzed. It is proved that the zeros accumulate along a contour in the complex plane that has the \(S\)-property in an external field. Strong asymptotics of the orthogonal polynomials are obtained by applying the nonlinear Deift-Zhou steepest descent method to the corresponding Riemann-Hilbert problem.