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In mathematics, the Christoffel–Darboux formula or Christoffel–Darboux theorem is an identity for a sequence of orthogonal polynomials, introduced by Elwin Bruno Christoffel (1858) and Jean Gaston Darboux (1878). It states that

${\displaystyle \sum _{j=0}^{n}{\frac {f_{j}(x)f_{j}(y)}{h_{j}}}={\frac {k_{n}}{h_{n}k_{n+1}}}{\frac {f_{n}(y)f_{n+1}(x)-f_{n+1}(y)f_{n}(x)}{x-y}}}$

where f_j(x) is the jth term of a set of orthogonal polynomials of squared norm h_j and leading coefficient k_j.

There is also a "confluent form" of this identity by taking ${\displaystyle y\to x}$ limit:$${\displaystyle \sum _{j=0}^{n}{\frac {f_{j}^{2}(x)}{h_{j}}}={\frac {k_{n}}{h_{n}k_{n+1}}}\left.}$$

Proof

Let ${\displaystyle p_{n}}$ be a sequence of polynomials orthonormal with respect to a probability measure ${\displaystyle \mu }$, and define$${\displaystyle a_{n}=\langle xp_{n},p_{n+1}\rangle ,\qquad b_{n}=\langle xp_{n},p_{n}\rangle ,\qquad n\geq 0}$$(they are called the "Jacobi parameters"), then we have the three-term recurrence$${\displaystyle {\begin{array}{l l}{p_{0}(x)=1,\qquad p_{1}(x)={\frac {x-b_{0}}{a_{0}}},}\\{xp_{n}(x)=a_{n}p_{n+1}(x)+b_{n}p_{n}(x)+a_{n-1}p_{n-1}(x),\qquad n\geq 1}\end{array}}}$$

Proof: By definition, ${\displaystyle \langle xp_{n},p_{k}\rangle =\langle p_{n},xp_{k}\rangle }$, so if ${\displaystyle k\leq n-2}$, then ${\displaystyle xp_{k}}$ is a linear combination of ${\displaystyle p_{0},...,p_{n-1}}$, and thus ${\displaystyle \langle xp_{n},p_{k}\rangle =0}$. So, to construct ${\displaystyle p_{n+1}}$, it suffices to perform Gram-Schmidt process on ${\displaystyle xp_{n}}$ using ${\displaystyle p_{n},p_{n-1}}$, which yields the desired recurrence.

Proof of Christoffel–Darboux formula:

Since both sides are unchanged by multiplying with a constant, we can scale each ${\displaystyle f_{n}}$ to ${\displaystyle p_{n}}$.

Since ${\displaystyle {\frac {k_{n+1}}{k_{n}}}xp_{n}-p_{n+1}}$ is a degree ${\displaystyle n}$ polynomial, it is perpendicular to ${\displaystyle p_{n+1}}$, and so ${\displaystyle \langle {\frac {k_{n+1}}{k_{n}}}xp_{n},p_{n+1}\rangle =\langle p_{n+1},p_{n+1}\rangle =1}$. Now the Christoffel-Darboux formula is proved by induction, using the three-term recurrence.

Specific cases

Hermite polynomials:

$${\displaystyle \sum _{k=0}^{n}{\frac {H_{k}(x)H_{k}(y)}{k!2^{k}}}={\frac {1}{n!2^{n+1}}}\,{\frac {H_{n}(y)H_{n+1}(x)-H_{n}(x)H_{n+1}(y)}{x-y}}.}$$$${\displaystyle \sum _{k=0}^{n}{\frac {He_{k}(x)He_{k}(y)}{k!}}={\frac {1}{n!}}\,{\frac {He_{n}(y)He_{n+1}(x)-He_{n}(x)He_{n+1}(y)}{x-y}}.}$$

Associated Legendre polynomials:

${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}(\mu -\mu ')\sum _{l=m}^{L}\,(2l+1){\frac {(l-m)!}{(l+m)!}}\,P_{lm}(\mu )P_{lm}(\mu ')=\qquad \qquad \qquad \qquad \qquad \\{\frac {(L-m+1)!}{(L+m)!}}{\big }.\end{aligned}}}$

See also

• Turán's inequalities
• Sturm Chain

References

1. Świderski, Grzegorz; Trojan, Bartosz (2021-08-01). "Asymptotic Behaviour of Christoffel–Darboux Kernel Via Three-Term Recurrence Relation I". Constructive Approximation. 54 (1): 49–116. arXiv:1909.09107. doi:10.1007/s00365-020-09519-w. ISSN 1432-0940. S2CID 202677666.

• Andrews, George E.; Askey, Richard; Roy, Ranjan (1999), Special functions, Encyclopedia of Mathematics and its Applications, vol. 71, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-62321-6, MR 1688958
• Christoffel, E. B. (1858), "Über die Gaußische Quadratur und eine Verallgemeinerung derselben.", Journal für die Reine und Angewandte Mathematik (in German), 55: 61–82, doi:10.1515/crll.1858.55.61, ISSN 0075-4102, S2CID 123118038
• Darboux, Gaston (1878), "Mémoire sur l'approximation des fonctions de très-grands nombres, et sur une classe étendue de développements en série", Journal de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées (in French), 4: 5–56, 377–416, JFM 10.0279.01
• Abramowitz, Milton; Stegun, Irene A. (1972), Handbook of Mathematical Functions, Dover Publications, Inc., New York, p. 785, Eq. 22.12.1
• Olver, Frank W. J.; Lozier, Daniel W.; Boisvert, Ronald F.; Clark, Charles W. (2010), "NIST Handbook of Mathematical Functions", NIST Digital Library of Mathematical Functions, Cambridge University Press, p. 438, Eqs. 18.2.12 and 18.2.13, ISBN 978-0-521-19225-5 (Hardback, ISBN 978-0-521-14063-8 Paperback)
• Simons, Frederik J.; Dahlen, F. A.; Wieczorek, Mark A. (2006), "Spatiospectral concentration on a sphere", SIAM Review, 48 (1): 504–536, arXiv:math/0408424, Bibcode:2006SIAMR..48..504S, doi:10.1137/S0036144504445765, S2CID 27519592

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