On approximation of ultraspherical polynomials in the oscillatory region (Q2404058)

The author studies ultraspherical polynomials given in terms of Jacobi polynomials \(P_k^{(\alpha,\alpha)}(x)\), where the parameter satisfies \(\alpha>-{k+1\over 2}\). As customary, the `oscillatory region' is an interval containing all but maybe a few of the extreme zeros of a polynomial; for background material the reader is referred to the standard work of Szegő (the 1975 reprint of \textit{Orthogonal polynomials} [4th ed. Providence, R. I.: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (1975; Zbl 0305.42011)]). Introducing \[ u=(k+\alpha)(k+\alpha+1),\;q=(\alpha^2-1)/u \] and the normal form of the differential equation \[ y''+b^2y=0,\;y=(1-x^2)^{(\alpha+1)/2}P_k^{(\alpha,\alpha)}(x), \] where \[ b=b(x)={\sqrt{(1-q-x^2)u} \over 1-x^2}, \] and define the function \[ g(x)=\sqrt{b(x)}y(x), \] which almost equioscillates on \(|x|<\sqrt{1-q}\), the main result is formulated as: {Theorem 1.} Let \(k\geq 2\) be even and let \(x\) belong to one of the following intervals, depending on the value of \(\alpha\): \[ \begin{align*}{ &\text{(i)}\quad 0\leq x\leq \sqrt{1-{1\over \alpha}},\ |\alpha|<\sqrt{7\over 6};\cr &\text{(ii)}\quad 0\leq x\leq \sqrt{1-q},\ \alpha\in [-{2k+1\over 4},-{7\over 6}]\cup [{7\over 6},\infty).\cr }\end{align*} \] Then the following approximation holds \[ g(x)=g(0)(\cos{{\mathcal B}(x)}+r(x)), \] where \[ g(0)=\left(-{1\over 4}\right)^{k/2}{{k+\alpha}\choose{k/2}} (k^2+2k\alpha+\alpha+1)^{1/4}, \] \[ {\mathcal B}(x)=\begin{cases} \sqrt{u}\left(\arccos{\sqrt{1-q-x^2\over 1-q}}- \sqrt{q}\arccos{\sqrt{1-q-x^2\over (1-q)(1-x^2)}}\right), &q\geq 0,\\ \sqrt{u}\left(\arccos{\sqrt{1-q-x^2\over 1-q}}+ \sqrt{-q} \arccos \text{h}{\sqrt{1-q-x^2\over (1-q)(1-x^2)}}\right), &q<0.\end{cases} \] The error term \(r(x)\) is bounded as follows: \[ r(x)=\begin{cases} {2.72 x\over \sqrt{(1-x^2)u}}, &q<0;\\ {2(1-x^2)x\over (1-q)(1-q-x^2)^{3/2} \sqrt{u}}, &0\leq q<{1\over 2};\\ {(1+q)x\over 4(1-q-x^2)^{3/2}}, &{1\over 2}\leq q<1.\end{cases} \] As a corollary, the author shows that the ultraspherical polynomials `live' in the interval \((-\sqrt{1-q},\sqrt{1-q})\): {Theorem 2.} For \(k\geq 10\), even, \(\alpha\geq 3-{k\over 2},\;|\alpha|\geq 1\), \[ \int_{-\eta}^{\eta}\,(1-x^2)( P_k^{(\alpha,\alpha)}(x))^2dx>1-{5\over 3(1-q)^{1/3}u^{1/6}} > 1-{5\over 3}\cdot \left({k+\alpha\over (k+2\alpha)k}\right)^{1/3}, \] where \[ \eta=\sqrt(1-q)\left(1-{4\cdot 2^{1/3}\over 3(1-q)^{2/3} u^{1/3}}\right). \] Here \(P_k^{(\alpha,\alpha)}(x)\) is the orthonormal form of the ultraspherical polynomial.