A direct proof of the Christoffel-Darboux identity and its equivalence to the recurrence relationship (Q750688)

In the theory of orthogonal polynomials (including formal orthogonality) the existence of a three term recurrence relation plays an important role. It implies for instance the well-known classical Christoffel- Darboux formula. There have quite a few generalizations been made leading to simultaneous and/or vector orthogonal polynomials; there the length of the recurrence relation, usually at least 4, is connected with the number of functions approximated or the dimension of the vector space considered. It has been a question for some time whether a classical Christoffel-Darboux formula did exist, next to the obvious generalizations within the context of simultaneous approximation. The author gives a direct proof of the Christoffel-Darboux formula using a.o. Sylvesters identity, Schweins' formula and a reproducing kernel property. After that the equivalence between this formula and the existence of a three term recurrence relation is proved. This shows that many of the generalizations of orthogonality will not lead to a Christoffel-Darboux formula. A well written paper, proving a fundamental property of classical orthogonal polynomials not known up to now.