Electrostatic interpretation for the zeros of certain polynomials and the Darboux process (Q5946612)

It is a very classical result that the zeros of the so-called classical orthogonal polynomials (Jacobi, Laguerre, Hermite) can be seen as equilibrium positions in a nice electrostatic interpretation using the logarithmic potential. If one allows more intricate electrostatic problems, it is possible to give an interpretation for many arbitrary sets of points. For sake of simplicity, the author restricts himself to polynomials that arise from those considered by Stieltjes by means of the Darboux process applied to the difference operator that is connected to the three term recurrence relation of the polynomials. This process consists of factoring the second-order difference operator that appears in the `original' three-term recurrence relation as a product of two first-order difference operators and then changing the order of these factors to obtain a new three-term recurrence relation. The author shows that even after repeated application of this process, a simple electrostatic interpretation can be given. Moreover, several suggestive examples are treated featuring a three-parameter family of polynomials resulting from six successive applications of the process. An interesting paper, opening a new vista on electrostatic problems connected with sets of zeros of polynomials.