Gegenbauer polynomials

In mathematics, Gegenbauer polynomials or ultraspherical polynomials C(α)
n(x) are orthogonal polynomials on the interval [−1,1] with respect to the weight function (1 − x²)^α–1/2. They generalize Legendre polynomials and Chebyshev polynomials, and are special cases of Jacobi polynomials. They are named for Leopold Gegenbauer.

Characterizations

A variety of characterizations of the Gegenbauer polynomials are available.

• The polynomials can be defined in terms of their generating function (Stein & Weiss 1971, §IV.2):

$\frac{1}{(1-2xt+t^2)^\alpha}=\sum_{n=0}^\infty C_n^{(\alpha)}(x) t^n.$

• The polynomials satisfy the recurrence relation (Suetin 2001):

$\begin{align} C_0^\alpha(x) & = 1 \\ C_1^\alpha(x) & = 2 \alpha x \\ C_n^\alpha(x) & = \frac{1}{n}[2x(n+\alpha-1)C_{n-1}^\alpha(x) - (n+2\alpha-2)C_{n-2}^\alpha(x)]. \end{align}$

• Gegenbauer polynomials are particular solutions of the Gegenbauer differential equation (Suetin 2001):

$(1-x^{2})y''-(2\alpha+1)xy'+n(n+2\alpha)y=0.\,$

When α = 1/2, the equation reduces to the Legendre equation, and the Gegenbauer polynomials reduce to the Legendre polynomials.

• They are given as Gaussian hypergeometric series in certain cases where the series is in fact finite:

$C_n^{(\alpha)}(z)=\frac{(2\alpha)_n}{n!} \,_2F_1\left(-n,2\alpha+n;\alpha+\frac{1}{2};\frac{1-z}{2}\right).$

(Abramowitz & Stegun p. 561). Here (2α)_n is the rising factorial. Explicitly,

$C_n^{(\alpha)}(z)=\sum_{k=0}^{\lfloor n/2\rfloor} (-1)^k\frac{\Gamma(n-k+\alpha)}{\Gamma(\alpha)k!(n-2k)!}(2z)^{n-2k}.$

• They are special cases of the Jacobi polynomials (Suetin 2001):

$C_n^{(\alpha)}(x) = \frac{(2\alpha)_n}{(\alpha+\frac{1}{2})_{n}}P_n^{(\alpha-1/2,\alpha-1/2)}(x).$

One therefore also has the Rodrigues formula

$C_n^{(\alpha)}(x) = \frac{(-2)^n}{n!}\frac{\Gamma(n+\alpha)\Gamma(n+2\alpha)}{\Gamma(\alpha)\Gamma(2n+2\alpha)}(1-x^2)^{-\alpha+1/2}\frac{d^n}{dx^n}\left[(1-x^2)^{n+\alpha-1/2}\right].$

Orthogonality and normalization

For a fixed α, the polynomials are orthogonal on [−1, 1] with respect to the weighting function (Abramowitz & Stegun p. 774)

$w(z) = \left(1-z^2\right)^{\alpha-\frac{1}{2}}.$

To wit, for n ≠ m,

$\int_{-1}^1 C_n^{(\alpha)}(x)C_m^{(\alpha)}(x)(1-x^2)^{\alpha-\frac{1}{2}}\,dx = 0.$

They are normalized by

$\int_{-1}^1 \left[C_n^{(\alpha)}(x)\right]^2(1-x^2)^{\alpha-\frac{1}{2}}\,dx = \frac{\pi 2^{1-2\alpha}\Gamma(n+2\alpha)}{n!(n+\alpha)[\Gamma(\alpha)]^2}.$

Applications

The Gegenbauer polynomials appear naturally as extensions of Legendre polynomials in the context of potential theory and harmonic analysis. The Newtonian potential in Rⁿ has the expansion, valid with α = (n − 2)/2,

$\frac{1}{|\mathbf{x}-\mathbf{y}|^{n-2}} = \sum_{k=0}^\infty \frac{|\mathbf{x}|^k}{|\mathbf{y}|^{k+n-2}}C_{n,k}^{(\alpha)}(\mathbf{x}\cdot \mathbf{y}).$

When n = 3, this gives the Legendre polynomial expansion of the gravitational potential. Similar expressions are available for the expansion of the Poisson kernel in a ball (Stein & Weiss 1971).

It follows that the quantities $C^{((n-2)/2)}_{n,k}(\mathbf{x}\cdot\mathbf{y})$ are spherical harmonics, when regarded as a function of x only. They are, in fact, exactly the zonal spherical harmonics, up to a normalizing constant.

Gegenbauer polynomials also appear in the theory of Positive-definite functions.

See also

• Rogers polynomials, the q-analogue of Gegenbauer polynomials
• Chebyshev polynomials

References

• Abramowitz, Milton; Stegun, Irene A., eds. (1965), "Chapter 22", Handbook of Mathematical Functions with Formulas, Graphs, and Mathematical Tables, New York: Dover, pp. 773, ISBN 978-0486612720, MR0167642, http://www.math.sfu.ca/~cbm/aands/page_773.htm .
• Bayin, S.S. (2006), Mathematical Methods in Science and Engineering, Wiley , Chapter 5.
• Koornwinder, Tom H.; Wong, Roderick S. C.; Koekoek, Roelof; Swarttouw, René F. (2010), "Orthogonal Polynomials", in Olver, Frank W. J.; Lozier, Daniel M.; Boisvert, Ronald F. et al., NIST Handbook of Mathematical Functions, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521192255, MR2723248, http://dlmf.nist.gov/18 
• Stein, Elias; Weiss, Guido (1971), Introduction to Fourier Analysis on Euclidean Spaces, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-08078-9 .
• Suetin, P.K. (2001), "Ultraspherical polynomials", in Hazewinkel, Michiel, Encyclopedia of Mathematics, Springer, ISBN 978-1556080104, http://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/index.php?title=U/u095030 .