The zero distribution of the Tricomi-Carlitz polynomials (Q678438)

The paper is a follow-up of an earlier paper by the same authors in [SIAM J. Math. Anal. 25, No. 2, 420-428 (1994; Zbl 0797.33005)]. The Tricomi-Carlitz polynomials \(\{f_n(x)\}\) are defined by \(f_0(x)=1, f_1(x)=\alpha x\), and the recursion \((n+1)f_{n+1}(x)-(n+\alpha)xf_n(x)+f_{n-1}(x)=0, n\geq1\). They also follow from the polynomials \(\{t_n^{\alpha}(x)\}\) introduced by Tricomi and defined by \(t_n^{\alpha}(x)=\sum_{k=0}^n(-1)^k{x-\alpha \choose k}x^{n-k}/(n-k)!\), and the relation \(f_n(x)=x^nt_n^{\alpha}(x^{-2})\). Carlitz proved that for \(\alpha>1\), \(\{f_n(x)\}\) satisfies an orthogonality relation. The authors use a probabilistic approach for improving their earlier results concerning the asymptotic distribution of the zeros of the polynomials \(g_n(x)\colon =f_n(x/\sqrt{\alpha})\), which are located in \([-1,1]\). Saddle point methods are used to study the asymptotics for \(g_n\) in the complex plane. A variant of the theorem of Grommer and Hamburger is given to establish uniform convergence of a result on compact subsets of the complex plane.