Wronskian type determinants of orthogonal polynomials, Selberg type formulas and constant term identities (Q2439568)

Let \(T\) be a linear operator on the linear space of polynomials with complex coefficients such that deg \(T(p) = \deg (p) -1\) for every polynomial \(p\). Two sequences of polynomials \((r_{n})_{n\geq0}\) and \((s_{n})_{n\geq0}\) are defined in terms of this operator as follows (i) \(r_{0}=1\), \(\deg r_{n}=n\), \(n\geq 0,\) and \(T(r_{n})=r_{n-1}\), i.e., it is an Appell polynomial sequence with respect to \(T\). (ii) \(s_{0}= 1\) and \(\sum_{j=0}^{n} s_{j} (x) r_{n-j}(x) =0\). In the paper under review the author proves the following result, that provides a general framework to the well known contribution [\textit{S. Karlin} and \textit{G. Szegö}, J. Anal. Math. 8, 1--157 (1961; Zbl 0116.27901)], when the authors obtain explicit expressions for Hankel determinants whose entries are some particular families of orthogonal polynomials by using the Wronskians of other families of orthogonal polynomials. {Theorem.} Let \((p_{n})_{n\geq0}\) be a sequence of polynomials orthogonal with respect to a measure \(\mu\) supported on the real line. For a given sequence of polynomials \((\psi_{i})_{i\geq0}\), with \(\deg \psi_{i}= i,\) let denote by \(\mu_{i,j}= \int r_{j} \bar{\psi_{i}} d \mu\). Let now introduce the polynomials \(q_{n,i}\) defined by \(q_{n,i}(x)= \sum _{j=0}^{n} \mu_{i,j} s_{n-j}(x)\). Then \[ \Omega_{m-1} \det (T^{i-1} (p_{m+j-1} (x)))_{i,j=1}^{n} = C_{n,m} \det (q_{n+i-1,j-1} (x))_{i,j=1}^{n},\tag{1} \] Here, \(\displaystyle\Omega_{m-1}= \det (\mu_{j-1,m-1})_{i,j=1}^{m}\,\, \text{and}\,\, C_{n,m} = (-1)^{m (n + \frac{m-1}{2})}\prod _{j=0}^ {n-1} \frac{\xi_{m+j}}{ \sigma_{m+j}},\) with \(\xi_{n}\) and \(\sigma_{n}\) the leading coefficients of the polynomials \(p_{n}\) and \(r_{n},\) respectively. The author follows the structure of the proof given \textit{B. Leclerc} [Sémin. Lothar. Comb. 41, B41d, 21 p. (1998; Zbl 0916.05076)], where \(T\) is the standard derivative operator and the polynomials \(q_{n}\) are defined in terms of \(p_{n}\) in a combinatorial way. The proof uses some Turnbull determinantal identities. Notice that the Leclerc approach is based on the fact that the Wronskian of a sequence of orthogonal polynomials is proportional to a Hankel determinant whose elements constitute a new sequence of polynomials, not necessarily orthogonal. The above result is specialized by the author to some relevant lowering operators like the derivative operator \(D\), the forward difference operator \(\Delta\), the operator \(T_{\mu}\) defined by \(T_{\mu}p_{n}= p_{n-1}\), and the composition of \(\Delta,\) and a quadratic polynomial. In the first case, the results by B. Leclerc, who extended the well known Karlin-Szegő identities for Hankel determinants whose entries are ultraspherical, Hermite and Laguerre polynomials, are recovered. In the second one, some conjectured identities in [\textit{A. J. Durán}, Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 142, No. 3, 915--930 (2014; Zbl 1284.42079)], for Casoratians of Charlier, Meixner, Krawtchouk and Hahn orthogonal polynomials are proved. In the third one, the Charlier, Meixner, Laguerre and Jacobi cases are considered. Related symmetries for determinants of dual Hahn, Racah, and Wilson polynomials are also obtained for the fourth operator. Selberg type integrals and sums allow to represent the determinant on the right side of (1) for certain operators \(T\) defined as above by using a variant of Heine's integral formula for a Hankel matrix. The method is shown for the case of Racah polynomials as an illustrative example. Finally, the author also shows that for some operators \(T\) and certain families of orthogonal polynomials (Meixner, Charlier and ultraspherical) the determinants in (1) can be rewritten as the constant term of certain multivariate Laurent expansions. This is a very nice contribution with powerful techniques, covering many topics with applications from classical analysis to statistical theory of complex systems.