Global asymptotics of orthogonal polynomials associated with \(|x|^{2\alpha} e^{-Q(x)}\) (Q968973)

The authors study the asymptotics of polynomials which are orthogonal with respect to a weight function of the form \[ w(x)=|x|^{2\alpha}e^{-Q(x)},\quad\alpha>-\tfrac{1}{2}, \] where \(Q(x)\) is a polynomial of degree \(2m\): \[ Q(x)=\sum_{k=0}^{2m}q_kx^k,\quad q_{2m}>0,\quad m>0. \] Globally uniform asymptotic expansions are obtained for \(z\) in four different regions of the complex plane. These four regions cover the whole complex \(z\)-plane. Their method is based on a Riemann-Hilbert approach. In fact, this is a modification of the steepest descent method introduced in [\textit{P. Deift} and \textit{X. Zhou}, Ann. Math. (2) 137, No.~2, 295--368 (1993; Zbl 0771.35042)]. Due to the singularity of \(|x|^{2\alpha}\), the expansion in the region containing the origin needs special attention; the expansion involves Bessel functions there. Furthermore, the authors study the asymptotic behavior of the leading coefficients and the recurrence coefficients of the orthogonal polynomials.