Orthogonal sequences constructed from quasi-orthogonal ultraspherical polynomials (Q2200792)

Wendroff's theorem [\textit{B. Wendroff}, Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 12, 554--555 (1961; Zbl 0099.05601)] says that given two polynomials \(p_{n}(x)=\prod_{k=1}^{n} (x-x_{k,n})\) and \(p_{n-1}(x)=\prod_{k=1}^{n} (x-x_{k,n-1})\) with interlacing zeros \(a<x_{1,n}<x_{1,n-1}<x_{2,n}<\cdots<x_{n-1,n-1}<x_{n,n}<b\) can be embedded in an infinite sequence of polynomials orthogonal on \([a,b]\). Let \(C_n^\lambda\) denote an ultraspherical polynomial with \(\lambda>-3/2\), and \(\lambda\ne-1,0,k-1/2\), \(k=0,1,2\ldots\). Then for \(n\ge 5\), the zeros of \(D_n^\lambda(x)=(x^2-1)C_{n-2}^\lambda(x)\) and \(D_{n-1}^\lambda(x)=C_{n-1}^\lambda(x)\) satisfy this interlacing property so that these polynomials belong to an orthogonal sequence \(\{D_m^\lambda\}\). In this paper recursive formulas to compute \(D_{n\pm j}^\lambda\) are derived and the zeros of \(D_m^\lambda\) and \(C_m^\lambda\) are compared. For \(-3/2<\lambda<-1\) the zero curves considerably differ while for \(-1<\lambda<-1/2\) they are much more similar. The latter is based on experimental results, no hard proof is provided.