Derivations and identities for Kravchuk polynomials (Q2259482)

This paper gives quite a number of `derivations' (a linear mapping of the algebra \(\mathbb{Q}(x_0,x_1,\ldots,x_n)\) of rational polynomials in \((n+1)\) variables, satisfying the Leibniz rule) and identities for Kravchuk polynomials. These polynomials were introduced by \textit{M. Krawtchouk} [C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris 189, 620--622 (1929; JFM 55.0799.01)] and are given by \[ K_n(x,a)=\sum_{i=0}^n\,(-1)^i{x\choose i}{a-x\choose n-i}. \] In the paper under review a general method is proposed to find identities of the form \[ P(K_0(x,a),K_1(x,a),\ldots,K_n(x,a))=\varphi_1(a)\text{ or }\varphi_2(x), \] where \(P(x_0,x_1,\ldots,x_n)\) is a polynomial in \(n+1\) variables and \(\varphi_1,\varphi_2\) are polynomials in one variable. The layout of the paper is as follows: \S1: Introduction (5 pages). {\parindent=6mm Definitions and discussion of methods.} \S2: Locally nilpotent derivations and Kravchuk diffeomorphisms (8 pages). \S3: Permutable mappings for the Weizenböck and Kravchuk derivations (6 pages). References (9 items). \vskip0.3cm The paper contains three hypotheses following from the explicit calculations for small values of \(n\). \[ \begin{align*}{(1)\quad\sum_{i=0}^n\,K_i(&x,a)\sum_{k=0}^{n-i}\,{(-1)^k\over k!}K_1(x,a)^kS^{(k)}(n-i)= \cr & =0\ (n\text{ odd}),\cr &=(-1)^m(2m-1)!!a(a-2)(a-4)\cdots (a-2(m-1))\ (n=2m), \text{where}\cr &S^{(k)}(n)=\sum_{m=k}^n\,{n-1\choose m-1}{2^mk!\over m!}s(m,k),\quad s(m,k)\text{ Stirling numbers of the first kind}.\cr (2)\quad\sum_{i=0}^n\,K_i(&x,a)\sum_{k=0}^{n-i}\,{(-1)^k\over(n-i)!}K_1(x,a)^ks(n-i,k)=\cr &=0\text{ if }n\text{ is odd},\cr &=(-1)^m{x\choose m}\text{ if }n=2m.\cr (3)\quad \varphi_1(a)=&(-1)^{n(n+1)/2}\prod_{i=0}^n\,i!\prod_{i=0}^{n-2}\,(a+i)^{n-1-i},\ \varphi_2(x)= (-1)^{n(n+1)/2}\prod_{i=0}^n\,2^i i!\prod_{i=0}^{n-2}\,(x-i)^{n-1-i}.}\end{align*} \]