Electrostatic problems with a rational constraint and degenerate Lamé equations (Q2183756)

In the paper under review the authors study the relation between the equilibrium configurations \((x_{1}^{*},...,x_{n}^{*})\) for the logarithmic energy \[L(x_{1},...,x_{n})=\sum_{k=1}^{n}\sum_{j=1}^{p}\nu_{j}\log\frac{1}{|a_{j}-x_{k}|} +\sum_{1\leq i< k\leq n}\log\frac{1}{|x_{k}-x_{j}|},\quad a_{j},x_{k}\in\mathbb{C},\, \nu_{j}\in\mathbb{R},\] subject to a certain rational or polynomial constraint, and the polynomial solutions of a corresponding parametric Lamé equation \[A(x)y''+(2B(x)-\rho D(x))y'+V(x)y=0.\] In the first main result the authors show that there exist a polynomial \(V(x)\) and a constant \(\rho^{*}\) such that \[y(x)=(x-x_{1}^{*})\cdots(x-x_{n}^{*}),\] is a solution of the parametric Lamé equation for \(\rho=\rho^{*}\). Moreover, a converse statement is also proved. In the second main result the authors describe a general relation between degenerate Lamé equations and electrostatic problems in the presence of an \(A\)-adjusted rational constraint. Finally, several examples concerning Schrödinger-type equations and Hermite, Laguerre and relativistic Hermite polynomials are presented.