Rational approximation and Sobolev-type orthogonality (Q2209298)

In this contribution the authors deal with sequences \(\{S_{n}(x)\}_{n\geq0}\) of polynomials orthogonal with respect to a Sobolev-type inner product \[\langle f, g \rangle = \int_{-1}^{1} f(x) g(x) d\mu(x) + \sum_{j=1}^{N} \sum _{i=0}^{d_{j}} M_{j,i} f^{(i)} (c_{j}) g^{(i)} (c_{j}).\] Here, \(\mu\) is a measure in the Nevai class \(M(0,1)\) (see [\textit{P. G. Nevai}, Orthogonal polynomials. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (1979; Zbl 0405.33009)]), \(M_{j,i} \geq 0, i=0, 1, \cdots, d_{j}-1, M_{j,d_{j}}>0,\) and \(c_{j}, j=1, 2, \cdots, N\) are real numbers with \(|c_{j}| >1, j=1, 2, \cdots, N.\) If we assume the above Sobolev-type inner product is sequentially-ordered, i. e. \(M_{j, i}=0, i=0, 1, \cdots, d_{j}-1, j= 1, 2, \cdots, N,\) then the polynomial \(S_{n}(z)\) has at least \(n-N\) changes of sign in \((-1,1).\) Moreover, for \(n\) large enough all its zeros are real, simple and each sufficiently small neighborhood of \(c_{j}, j= 1, 2, \cdots,N\) contains exactly one zero of \(S_{n}\) and the remaining zeros lie on \((-1,1).\) This last result is a direct consequence of the outer relative asymptotics for Sobolev-type orthogonal polynomials given in [\textit{G. López Lagomasino} et al., Constr. Approx. 11, No. 1, 107--137 (1995; Zbl 0840.42017)]. Let denote by \(\{Q_{n}(x)\}_{n\geq0}\) the sequence of orthogonal polynomials with respect to the measure \(\rho(x) d \mu(x),\) where \(\rho(x)= \prod_{c_{j} <-1} (z-c_{j})^{d_{j} +1} \prod_{c_{j} >1} (c_{j}-z)^{d_{j} +1}\)is a positive polynomial on \((-1,1).\) The authors introduce the sequence of polynomials \(\{S_{n}^{[k]} (z) \} _{n\geq0}\) defined as \[ S_{n}^{[k]} (z)= \int_{-1}^{1} \frac{S_{n+k}(z)- S_{n+k}(x)}{z-x} Q_{k-1}(x) \rho(x) d\mu(x).\] Notice that they constitute a natural extension of the so called associated polynomials of \(k\)th kind in the theory of standard orthogonal polynomials (see [\textit{W. Van Assche}, J. Comput. Appl. Math. 37, No. 1--3, 237--249 (1991; Zbl 0744.42012)]). The following extended Markov's theorem is proved. Let consider a sequentially ordered discrete Sobolev inner product and let \(\mu\) be a measure in the Nevai class \(M(0,1).\) Then, for \(k \in \mathbb{N}\) the sequence of rational functions \(\{\frac{S_{n}^{[k]}(z)} {S_{n+k} (z)}\}_{n\geq0}\) uniformly converges to the function \(\int_{-1}^{1} \frac {Q_{k-1}(x)}{z-x} \rho(x) d\mu(x)\) in every compact subset of the exterior of \([-1,1] \bigcup \{c_{1}, c_{2}, \cdots, c_{N}\}\) in the complex plane. The function on the right hand side is said to be the \(k\)th Markov type function associated with the measure \(\rho(x) d\mu(x).\) On the other hand, an estimate of the degree of convergence for the sequence of rational functions in the left hand side is deduced.