On the critical lengths of cycloidal spaces (Q485322)

The cycloidal space of dimension \(n+1\), denoted by \(C_n\) is defined for \(n\geq 2\) as the linear space generated by the functions \(\cos x,\sin x, 1,x, x^2,\ldots,x^{n-2}\). These spaces are important in computer-aided design. The critical length of \(C_n\) is the number \(\ell_n>0\), defined as the supremum of the length of intervals \(I\) on which \(C_n\) is an extended Chebyshev space. The paper extends the study of cycloidal spaces made by the authors in previous papers. See for instance [\textit{J. M. Carnicer} et al., Constr. Approx. 20, No. 1, 55--71 (2004; Zbl 1061.41004)]. The main result consists in deriving the relations \(\ell_{2k}=\ell_{2k+1}<\ell_{2k+2}\), \(k\geq 1\) and a description of the common value of \(\ell_{2k}\) and \(\ell_{2k+1}\) as the first positive zero of a certain functional determinant.