Extremal polynomials connected with Zolotarev polynomials (Q2227801)

In this paper, the authors deal with the following extremal problem: Using the notation \(P_{n}(x,t)=x_{0}t^{n}+x_{1}t^{n-1}+\dotsb+x_{n}\) for a polynomial of degree not greater than \(n\), \(n\ge 2\) and given real parameters \[ a>1,\quad b<-1,\quad M>0,\quad A \] maximize the magnitude of \(P_{n}(x,b)\) at the following constraints \[ |P_{n}(x,t)|\le M\quad \text{at}\quad t\in [-1,1],\quad P_{n}(x,a)=A. \tag{1} \] Let us consider the Chebyshev polynomials given by \(T_{n}(t)=\cos (n \arccos t)\) and write \(A_{n}=MT_{n}(a)\). Then one has: \begin{itemize} \item the solution of problem (1) exists for \(A\in [-A_{n},A_{n}]\) \end{itemize} and, in general, \begin{itemize} \item the solution of problem (1) is unique. \end{itemize} We can highlight the dependence of the solution of problem (1) on the parameter~\(A\) by analyzing the monotonicity of two characteristics of the extremal polynomial. Denote by \(x^{*}(A)\) the solution of (1) and \(B(A)=P_{n}(x^{*}(A),b)\). Then it is proved: \begin{itemize} \item {the maximum value \(B(A)\) of the target function in problem (1) increases monotonically in the interval \([-A_{n},A_{n}]\) for even \(n\), and decreases monotonically in the same interval for odd \(n\).} \item {The leading coefficient \(x_{0}^{*}(A)\) of the extremal polynomial \(P_{n}(x^{*}(A),t)\) increases monotonically in the interval \([-A_{n},A_{n}]\) for all values of \(n\).} \end{itemize} The extremal polynomials that are solutions of the problem (1) can be represented via Chebyshev's polynomials. Let \(\tau^{*}=\cos \dfrac{\pi}{n}\) and consider the following two polynomials at \(\tau\in [\tau^{*},1)\) \begin{align*} U_{n}(\tau,t)&= MT_{n}\left(\frac{1+\tau}{2}t+\frac{1-\tau}{2}\right),\\ V_{n}(\tau,t)&=MT_{n}\left(\frac{1+\tau}{2}t-\frac{1-\tau}{2}\right). \end{align*} Writing \(G_{n}=U_{n}(\tau^{*},a)\), \(H_{n}=V_{n}(\tau^{*},a)\), one proves the following. \begin{itemize} \item {Let \(n\) be an even number. If \(A\in [H_{n},A_{n})\), the solution of problem (1) can be presented in the form of \(V_{n}(\tau,t)\), where \(\tau\) is the unique root of the equation \(V_{n}(\tau,a)=A\) in the interval \([\tau^{*},1)\). If \(A\in (-A_{n},-G_{n}]\), the solution of problem (1) can be presented in the form of \(-U_{n}(\tau,t)\), where \(\tau\) is the unique root of the equation \(-U_{n}(\tau,a)=A\) in the interval~\([\tau^{*},1)\).} \end{itemize} An analogous result holds for the case that \(n\) is odd. The solution of problem (1) is connected with the Zolotarev polynomials. Among all polynomials of the form \(F_{n}(p,t)=t^{n}+p_{1}t^{n-1}+\dotsb+p_{n}\) satisfying the condition \(F_{n}(p,a)=A\), let \(p^{*}\) be the coefficients of the polynomial \(F_{n}^{*}(t)=F_{n}(p^{*},t)\) which provides the least value of \(\max\limits_{t\in [-1,1]}|F_{n}(p,t)|\). The polynomial \(F_{n}^{*}(t)\) is called the Zolotarev polynomial with parameters \(a>1\), \(A\). Then \begin{itemize} \item {Let \(P_{n}(x^{*},t)\) be a solution of problem (1) with parameters \(a>1\), \(b<-1\), \(A\in (-A_{n},A_{n})\), \(M>0\). Then, in the case of even \(n\) and \(A\ne A_{n-1}\) and in the case of odd~\(n\) and \(A\ne A_{n-1}\), the following identity is true \[ \frac{1}{x_{0}^{*}}P_{n}(x^{*},t)\equiv F_{n}^{*}(t), \] where \(x_{0}^{*}\) is the leading coefficient of the polynomial \(P_{n}(x^{*},t)\) and \(F_{n}^{*}(t)\) is the Zolotarev polynomial with parameters \(a\), \(A/x_{0}^{*}\).} \end{itemize}