Variations on a theme of Heine and Stieltjes: An electrostatic interpretation of the zeros of certain polynomials (Q1298561)

This short note deals with an electrostatic interpretation of the zeros of sequences of polynomials satisfying a second order differential equation. The author explains that the ideas of Heine and Stieltjes can be adapted to a large class of (not necessarily orthogonal) polynomials satisfying a second order differential equation. The coefficients of this differential might depend on the degree of the polynomials. Heine and Stieltjes only considered the case of coefficients independent of the degree, such as the case of the classical orthogonal polynomials. In this new situation the Krall-type orthogonal polynomials studied by T.H.~Koornwinder in [\textit{T. H. Koornwinder}, Can. Math. Bull. 27, No. 2, 205-214 (1984; Zbl 0532.33010)] fit in, but also non-orthogonal polynomials like the Krall-Hermite and Krall-Bessel polynomials studied in [F.A.~Grünbaum, \textit{L. Haine} and \textit{E. Horozov}, Int. Math. Res. Not. 1997, No. 19, 953-966 (1997; Zbl 0910.33004)].