Majorization of polynomials on the plane (Q2486112)

Let \(\sigma\) be a polynomial of degree \(\leq n\) which is positive on the interval \([-1,1]\), and let \(\pi_n (\sigma)\) denote the set of all polynomials \(f\) of degree \(\leq n\) with real coefficients such that \(| f| \leq \sigma\) on \([-1,1]\). The author obtains pointwise estimates for polynomials \(f\in\pi_n (\sigma)\) in terms of the snake polynomials \(T_n (\sigma,\cdot)\). More precisely, the main theorem states that for every \(f\in \pi_n (\sigma)\) and for every \(z = x + iy\) with \(x \in [-1,1]\) \[ | f(z)| \leq \max (| \sigma (z)| , \max\limits_{\xi\in[-1,1]} | T_n (\sigma, \xi+iy)| ) \, . \] According to an estimate of Duffin and Schaeffer for the Chebyshev polynomials \(T_n=T_n(1,\cdot)\), in the classical case \(\sigma \equiv 1\) the right hand side turns out to be \(\leq | T_n(1+iy)| \). This leads to the pointwise estimate \[ | f(x+iy)| \leq | T_n (1+iy)| \qquad (x \in [-1,1], y\in\mathbb R) \] for all real polynomials \(f\) of degree \(\leq n\) with \(| f| \leq 1\) on \([-1,1]\). The inequality also remains true if \(f\) and \(T_n\) are replaced by derivatives \(f^{(k)}\) and \(T_n^{(k)}\) of order \(k \leq n\), which extends the well-known Markov inequality.