Sequences of Binomial Type with Persistent Roots
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JOURNAL OF MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS AND APPLICATIONS 199, 39]58Ž. 1996 ARTICLE NO. 0125 Sequences of Binomial Type with Persistent Roots A. Di Bucchianico* Department of Mathematics and Computing Science, Eindho¨en Uni¨ersity of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindho¨en, The Netherlands and View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE D. E. Loeb² provided by Elsevier - Publisher Connector LaBRI, Uni¨ersite de Bordeaux I, 33405 Talence, France Submitted by George Gasper Received March 22, 1995 Ž. Ž Ž. We find all sequences of polynomials pnnG0with persistent roots i.e., pxn s Ž.Ž.Ž.. cxn yrx12yr??? x y rnthat are of binomial type in Viskov's generalization of Rota's umbral calculus to generalized Appell polynomials. We show that such sequences only exist in the classical umbral calculus, the divided difference umbral 2 calculus, and the new ``hyperbolic'' umbral calculus generated by Ž.drdx' .In each of these three umbral calculi, we also find all Sheffer sequences with persistent roots. Q 1996 Academic Press, Inc. 1. INTRODUCTION Most sequences of polynomials that interest mathematicians fall into one of the following three categories or their generalizations: v sequences of binomial typewx 13]15 , v sequences with persistent rootswx 4, 5 and v sequences of orthogonal polynomialswx 3 . These theories are very rich; powerful formulas allow the computation of one such sequence of polynomials in terms of another of the same type. *Author supported by NATO CRG 930554. WWW URL http:rrwww.win.tue.nlrwinr mathrbsrstatisticsrbucchianico. E-mail address: [email protected]. ²Author partially supported by URA CNRS 1304, EC Grant CHRX-CT93-0400, the PRC Maths-Info, and NATO CRG 930554. WWW URL http:rrwww.labri.u-bordeaux.frr;loeb. E-mail address: [email protected]. 39 0022-247Xr96 $18.00 Copyright Q 1996 by Academic Press, Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. 40 DI BUCCHIANICO AND LOEB However, to go from, for example, an arbitraryŽ. generalized convolution sequence to an arbitrary sequence with persistent roots, it is necessary to n pass through a sequence that is both, for example, x rn!. This gives rise to the following three questions: What are the con¨olution sequences of orthogonal polynomials? This first question is treated bywx 1, 3, 10, 16 . What are the persistent sequences of orthogonal polynomials? Since persistent sequences obey a two-term recurrence and orthogonal se- quences obey a three-term recurrenceŽ. Favard's theorem , there are no persistent sequences of orthogonal polynomials. What are the persistent sequences of binomial type? The objective of this paper is the complete resolution of this last question. Up to rescaling, all persistent convolution sequences can be found in Table I. Ž. A sequence of polynomials pnnG0is said to be of binomial type if it obeys the identity n n Epy Ž. x pxpyŽ. Ž.,1Ž. nnsÝž/k ykk ks0 y where EpxŽ.spx Žqy .. Well-known examples include the powers of x ŽŽ..in which case Eq. 1 is called the binomial theorem , the Abel polynomi- n1 als xxŽ.yna y, the Laguerre polynomials, and so onwx 13, 14 . TABLE I Complete List of Persistent Convolution Sequences Umbral calculus Roots Delta operator Polynomials Name bnnF rfŽD b .Ž.px qnŽ.x xn any any any 0, 0, 0, 0, . Dpxb Ž. bn 1 xpŽ. x p Ž.1 divided y n 1 1 0,1,1,1,... xxŽ.y1 y difference 1 y txy1 Ž.Ž. x classical n! exp 0, 1, 2, 3, . pxq1ypx ž/n 2 2 xxŽ.y1??? Ž.x y Ž.n y 1 Ž. 1 hyperbolic 2n ! cosh 0, 1, 4, 9, . 2px'q1q Ž.wx Ž.2n! 2 pxŽ.wx'y1y2pxŽ. SEQUENCES WITH PERSISTENT ROOTS 41 Ž. Ž. If pnnG0 is of binomial type, then the sister sequence qnnG0s Ž. pnnrn!G0 obeys the identity n y EqnnŽ. x sÝqxqyykk Ž. Ž.. ks0 It is often more convenient to consider the sister con¨olution sequence rather than the sequence of binomial type itself. An important generalization of the umbral calculus involves replacing n the derivative D with a homogeneous linear operator of the form Dxb s ny1 Ž. y bxnnrby1where bn/ 0 for all n provided that the shift E yFŽ.F Ž.Ý` n is replaced with Ebbs yD where t s ns0t rbnwx11, 12, 20, 21 . The resulting polynomials are sometimes called generalized Appell poly- nomials. However, umbral calculus does not include all important sequences of polynomials even as generalized above. For that reason, we now turn to sequences with persistent roots. Ž. A sequence pnnG0 is said to have persistent roots or be persistent if Ž. Ž. pxnndivides pxq1for all n. That is to say, all of the roots in pnpersist in pnq1. Ž. In Section 3, we consider the classical umbral calculus bns n!. All persistent convolution sequences have their roots in an arithmetic pro- gression pxnŽ.sxx Žya .??? Ž.x y Žn y 1 .a . Moreover, if we allow Sheffer sequences, then we are no longer limited to progressions which start at zero. We then consider two other umbral calculi and characterize all of their convolution and Sheffer sequences with persistent roots. In Section 4, we Ž. consider the divided difference umbral calculus bn s 18,17wx]19 which is important in interpolation theory. In Section 5, we consider a new ŽŽ.. umbral calculus bn s 2n ! which we call the hyperbolic umbral calculus since FŽ.t s cosh Ž't .. Surprisingly, these three examples give essentially all persistent convolu- Ž Ž .. Ž nn . tion sequences. Obviously, any sequence qxnnG0scxrbnnG0 has persistent rootsŽ. all zero , and is the basic convolution sequence for the delta operator Dbrc. However, in Section 6, we show that, other than these trivial examples, all persistent convolution sequences belong to the classical, divided difference, or hyperbolic umbral calculus. We have thus explicitly characterized all persistent divided difference polynomial se- quences. Our work was assisted by extensive use of the computer algebra system Maple and our umbral calculus packagewx 2 . 42 DI BUCCHIANICO AND LOEB 2. GENERATING FUNCTIONS We show in this section that in any umbral calculus, there is, up to vertical and horizontal scaling, at most one nontrivial persistent convolu- tion sequence. These results are superseded by the explicit examples in Sections 3]5, and the completeness results in Section 6 which follow as consequences of these uniqueness results. 2.1. Umbral Calculus Modern umbral calculus employs powerful operator methods to derive results on polynomialswx 13]15 . Different commutation classes of operators give yield to analogous results concerning different sequences of polynomialswx 9, 21 . The classical umbral calculus concerns the family of operators that commute with the derivative D. These operators can all be expressed as formal power series in the derivative. Thus, they all commute with each y other. In particular, they commute with the shift operator E s expŽ.yD . Hence, these operators are usually called shift-invariant operators. The situation in other umbral calculi is analogous. A generalized deri¨a- ti¨e is defined by a non-zero generalized factorial function bn as bn ¡ x ny1 if n ) 0, and Dxn b s~ bny1 ¢0ifns0. y Ž. Ž. The generalized shift operator is then Ebbs F yD where F t s Ý`n ns0 trbn so that we have the following generalized binomial theorem wx13, 20 n bn yn knyk Exb sÝ xy . bb ks0 knyk 2.2. Con¨olution Sequences Ž. The sequences of polynomials pnnG0under consideration in the um- Ž. bral calculus are required to satisfy deg pn s n. These sequences are studied in terms of the operators which define them. For example, let f be a delta series, i.e., a formal power series with zero Ž. Ž . Ž. Ž. constant term. Then any sequence qnnG0satisfying fDbn q xsqx ny1 Ž. will be said to be Sheffer. If further we have qn 0 s 0 for n ) 0, and Ž. q0 '1, then qnnG0is said to be a convolution sequence. SEQUENCES WITH PERSISTENT ROOTS 43 In the classical umbral calculus, convolution sequences qn have generat- ing functions of the form ` n Žy1. ÝqxtnŽ. sexpŽ.xfŽ. t , ns0 where f Žy1. denotes the compositional inverse of f. In general, convolution sequences qn are characterized by generating functions of the form ` n Žy1. ÝqxtnŽ. sFŽ.xfŽ. t .2Ž. ns0 The delta operator of qxnbŽ.is then fD Ž .. Ž. Thus, each convolution sequence qnnG0is determined uniquely by an umbral calculus b and a delta series f. Conversely, every convolution sequence belongs to essentially only one umbral calculus b Ž.Lemma 6.1 . Ž. However, if we require that qnnG0have persistent roots, then we can Ž. say much more. In this case, qnnG0is determined by the umbral calculus band the polynomial q2 alone. ROPOSITION Ž. P 2.1. Let qnnG0 be a persistent con¨olution sequence in the umbral calculus b with respect to the delta operator fŽ. Dbn with roots r . Then either: nn v Ž. Ž. The sequence is tri¨ial, that is, qxnnscxrb,fDbbsDrc,and rn s0for all n G 1, or else r v Ž. Ž2 . Ž Ž. r12s0, r / 0, and f Dbbs cE y1rr22. For c s r s 1, fDb is called the forward difference operator D b.. We will give two proofs of this important result. The first one uses operator methods, and the second one uses generating functions. r 2 Ž. Proof 1. Case r2/ 0. By the generalized binomial theorem, Eqbn xs Ýn Ž.Ž. Ž. Ž. ks0qxqrnykk2. However, qrk21s0 for k G 2, and qxsxrc.