Krall-Laguerre commutative algebras of ordinary differential operators (Q1947226)

In the theory of orthogonal polynomials, a correct characterization of each family (e.g., Jacobi, Laguerre, Hermite and Bessel polynomials) is of great interest. It is a well-known result in the literature that the classical orthogonal polynomials \(p_{n}\) are the only ones which satisfy a differential equation (DE) of the form \[ B \left( x,\frac{d}{dx} \right) p_{n}(x) = \lambda_{n} p_{n}(x),\quad n \in \mathbb{N}_{0} \] in which \(B\left(x,\frac{d}{dx}\right) = \sum_{j=0}^{2} b_{j} \frac{d^j}{dx^j}\) is a second-order differential operator with coefficients \(b_{j}(x)\) independent of the degree index \(n\) and with eigenvalues \(\lambda_{n}\) independent of the variable \(x\). It has been noticed in previous papers that, by applying Darboux transformations to the recurrence relations of both Laguerre and Jacobi polynomials, different interesting orthogonal polynomial classes arise. The latter classes also satisfy the differential equation above but in these cases the operator \(B\) may be of higher order. The author discusses the definition of Laguerre-type polynomials by applying the Darboux transformation to the recurrence relation of Laguerre polynomials. The Laguerre-type polynomials are orthogonal in \([0,\infty)\) with respect to a family of weight distributions. The author associates with each of these weights a Casorati determinant \(\tau(n) \in \mathbb{C}[n]\). It has been shown in the literature that it is possible to associate a nontrivial commutative algebra \(\bar{\mathcal{D}}\) of differential operators \(B\) to each of the elements in the cited family of weights such that the DE holds for some \(\lambda_{n}\). Following that, let \(\mathcal{A}\) be the algebra of all \(\lambda_{n} \in \mathbb{C}[n]\), such that the difference \(\lambda_{n} - \lambda_{n-1}\) is divisible by \(\tau(n-1)\). The author proves that, for every \(\lambda_{n} \in \mathcal{A}\), there exists a differential operator \(B\) satisfying the DE. Subsequently, by means of a new approach, the author shows that, for some conditions, all possible eigenvalues in DE are in \(\mathcal{A}\). It is worth to notice that the conditions are valid for generic parameters. In order to illustrate the methodology developed, the author discusses three examples. In the first one, Koornwinder's generalized Laguerre polynomials are taken into account and by means of the methodology proposed, the author shows that all possible eigenvalues in the corresponding differential equation are in \(\mathcal{A}\). Also, the new techniques yield an explicit set of generators for the whole algebra \(\bar{\mathcal{D}}\). In the second example, a different weight distribution from the same family is studied and the author establishes conditions under which all possible eigenvalues in the corresponding DE are in \(\mathcal{A}\). Finally, in the third example, the author discusses an extension of the methodology to more general Laguerre-type polynomials orthogonal with respect to a Sobolev-type inner product, defined as \[ \left\langle f(x),g(x)\right\rangle =\frac{1}{\Gamma(\alpha+1)}\int_{0}^{\infty}f(x)g(x)x^{\alpha}e^{-x}\,dx+\left[f(0),f'(0)\right]A\left[g(0),g'(0)\right]^T \] where \(\alpha \in \mathbb{N}_0\), \(A\) is a symmetric \(2 \times 2\) matrix and \(T\) represents the operation of transposing the vector. The paper is well-written and structured in a clear way. The mathematical development is rigorous. Regarding the readership, the paper requires medium to high level knowledge on commutative algebra of differential operators and orthogonal polynomials.