On the Erdélyi-Magnus-Nevai conjecture for Jacobi polynomials (Q1015400)

For the Jacobi polynomials \(P_k^{(\alpha,\beta)}(x)\), it is an important and difficult problem to estimate \[ \mathcal{M}_k^{\alpha,\beta}=\sup_{x \in [-1,1]} M_k^{(\alpha,\beta)}(x), \] where \(M_k^{(\alpha,\beta)}(x)= \sqrt{1-x^2}(1-x)^{\alpha}(1+x)^{\beta} (P_k^{(\alpha,\beta)}(x))^2\). In [SIAM J. Math. Anal. 25, No. 2, 602--614 (1994; Zbl 0805.33013)], \textit{T. Erdélyi, A. P. Magnus} and \textit{P. Nevai} have obtained a remarkable result concerning almost all the possible range of the parameters \(\alpha\) and \(\beta\), that is, \[ \mathcal{M}_k^{(\alpha,\beta)} \leq \frac{2 e (2+ \sqrt{ \alpha^2+\beta^2})}{\pi}, \] provided \(k \geq 0, \alpha, \beta \geq -1/2.\) Moreover, they suggested some stronger conjectures about \(\mathcal{M}_k^{(\alpha,\beta)}\). In the present paper the author confirms one of these conjectures in the ultraspherical case \(\alpha=\beta\geq (1+\sqrt{2})/4\), even in a stronger form by giving very explicit upper bounds. Further, the following result is obtained: \[ \sqrt{\delta^2-x^2}(1-x^2)^{\alpha}(P_{2k}^{(\alpha,\alpha)}(x))^2< \frac{2}{\pi} (1+\frac{1}{8(2k+\alpha)^2}) \] for a certain choice of \(\delta\), such that the interval \((-\delta,\delta)\) contains all the zeros of \(P_{2k}^{(\alpha,\alpha)}(x)\), and slightly weaker bounds are obtained for polynomials of odd degree.