A conjecture on exceptional orthogonal polynomials (Q372864)

This impressive article deals with exceptional orthogonal polynomial systems (X-OPS's) being eigenfunctions of Sturm-Liouville problems without the assumption that an eigenpolynomial of every degree should exist. These systems generalize the families of classical orthogonal polynomials named after Hermite, Laguerre, and Jacobi. Moreover, these systems include a family of orthogonal polynomials introduced by \textit{J. F. Cariñena} et al. [J. Phys. A, Math. Theor. 41, No. 8, Article ID 085301, 10 p. (2008; Zbl 1138.81380)] as a special case. The authors formulate the conjecture: Every exceptional orthogonal polynomial system \(X_m\) for any codimension \(m\) can be obtained by applying a sequence of at most \(m\) Darboux transformations to a classical OPS. A proof is given for \(m=2\). As a by-product the authors prove a Bochner-type theorem classifying all possible \(X_2\)-OPS's. This classification includes all known cases plus some new examples of \(X_2\)-Laguerre and \(X_2\)-Jacobi polynomials. A consequence of the conjecture would be that all exceptional orthogonal polynomials could be written as Wronskian determinants involving essentially classical orthogonal polynomials, more specifically: involving one classical orthogonal polynomial and many quasi-rational factorizing functions.