Zeros of linear combinations of Laguerre polynomials

TL;DR

This paper investigates the real zeros of finite linear combinations of consecutive Laguerre polynomials across different normalizations, revealing conditions under which these combinations have all real zeros or some non-real zeros, based on associated polynomial roots.

Contribution

It introduces a unified approach to analyze zeros of Laguerre polynomial combinations using auxiliary polynomials, extending understanding across multiple normalization schemes.

Findings

Zeros are real if associated polynomial roots are real and satisfy certain bounds.

In some cases, non-real zeros appear when associated polynomial roots are non-real.

The behavior of zeros depends on the normalization and roots of specific auxiliary polynomials.

Abstract

We study the number of real zeros of finite combinations of $K+1$ consecutive normalized Laguerre polynomials of the form $$ q_n(x)=\sum_{j=0}^K\gamma_j\tilde L^\alpha_{n-j}(x),\quad n\ge K, $$ where $\gamma_j$, $j=0,\cdots ,K$, are real numbers with $\gamma_0=1$, $\gamma_K\not =0$. We consider four different normalizations of Laguerre polynomials: the monic Laguerre polynomials $\hat L_n^\alpha$, the polynomials $\mathcal L_n^\alpha=n!L_n^\alpha/(1+\alpha)_n$ (so that $\mathcal L_n^\alpha(0)=1$), the standard Laguerre polynomials $(L_n^\alpha)_n$ and the Brenke normalization $L_n^\alpha/(1+\alpha)_n$. We show the key role played by the polynomials $Q(x)=\sum_{j=0}^K(-1)^j\gamma_j(x)_{K-j}$ and $P(x)=\sum_{j=0}^K\gamma_jx^{K-j}$ to solve this problem: $Q$ in the first case and $P$ in the second, third and forth cases. In particular, in the first case, if all the zeros of the polynomial $Q$ are real and less than $\alpha+1$, then all the zeros of $q_n$, $n\ge K$, are positive. In the other cases, if all the zeros of $P$ are real then all the zeros of $q_n$, $n\ge K$, are also real. If $P$ has $m>1$ non-real zeros, there are important differences between the four cases. For instance in the first case, $q_n$ has still only real zeros for $n$ big enough, but in the fourth case $q_n$ has exactly $m$ non-real zeros for $n$ big enough.