Orthogonality The Jacobi polynomials satisfy the orthogonality condition :\int_{-1}^1 (1-x)^{\alpha} (1+x)^{\beta} P_m^{(\alpha,\beta)} (x)P_n^{(\alpha,\beta)} (x)\,dx =\frac{2^{\alpha+\beta+1}}{2n+\alpha+\beta+1} \frac{\Gamma(n+\alpha+1)\Gamma(n+\beta+1)}{\Gamma(n+\alpha+\beta+1)n!} \delta_{nm}, \qquad \alpha,\ \beta > -1. As defined, they do not have unit norm with respect to the weight. This can be corrected by dividing by the square root of the right hand side of the equation above, when n=m. Although it does not yield an
orthonormal basis, an alternative normalization is sometimes preferred due to its simplicity: :P_n^{(\alpha, \beta)} (1) = {n+\alpha\choose n}.
Symmetry relation The polynomials have the symmetry relation :P_n^{(\alpha, \beta)} (-z) = (-1)^n P_n^{(\beta, \alpha)} (z); thus the other terminal value is :P_n^{(\alpha, \beta)} (-1) = (-1)^n { n+\beta\choose n}.
Derivatives The kth derivative of the explicit expression leads to :\frac{d^k}{dz^k} P_n^{(\alpha,\beta)} (z) = \frac{\Gamma (\alpha+\beta+n+1+k)}{2^k \Gamma (\alpha+\beta+n+1)} P_{n-k}^{(\alpha+k, \beta+k)} (z).
Recurrence relations The 3-term
recurrence relation for the Jacobi polynomials of fixed \alpha, \beta is: : \begin{align} (z-1) \frac{d}{dz} P_n^{(\alpha,\beta)}(z) & = \frac{1}{2} (z-1)(1+\alpha+\beta+n)P_{n-1}^{(\alpha+1,\beta+1)} \\ & = n P_n^{(\alpha,\beta)} - (\alpha+n) P_{n-1}^{(\alpha,\beta+1)} \\ & =(1+\alpha+\beta+n) \left( P_n^{(\alpha,\beta+1)} - P_{n}^{(\alpha,\beta)} \right) \\ & =(\alpha+n) P_n^{(\alpha-1,\beta+1)} - \alpha P_n^{(\alpha,\beta)} \\ & =\frac{2(n+1) P_{n+1}^{(\alpha,\beta-1)} - \left(z(1+\alpha+\beta+n)+\alpha+1+n-\beta \right) P_n^{(\alpha,\beta)}}{1+z} \\ & =\frac{(2\beta+n+nz) P_n^{(\alpha,\beta)} - 2(\beta+n) P_n^{(\alpha,\beta-1)}}{1+z} \\ & =\frac{1-z}{1+z} \left( \beta P_n^{(\alpha,\beta)} - (\beta+n) P_{n}^{(\alpha+1,\beta-1)} \right) \, . \end{align}
Generating function The
generating function of the Jacobi polynomials is given by : \sum_{n=0}^\infty P_n^{(\alpha,\beta)}(z) t^n = 2^{\alpha + \beta} R^{-1} (1 - t + R)^{-\alpha} (1 + t + R)^{-\beta}, where : R = R(z, t) = \left(1 - 2zt + t^2\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}~, and the
branch of square root is chosen so that R(z, 0) = 1.
Ultraspherical:\begin{aligned} C_n^{(\lambda)}(x) & =\frac{(2 \lambda)_n}{\left(\lambda+\frac{1}{2}\right)_n} P_n^{\left(\lambda-\frac{1}{2}, \lambda-\frac{1}{2}\right)}(x), \\ P_n^{(\alpha, \alpha)}(x) & =\frac{(\alpha+1)_n}{(2 \alpha+1)_n} C_n^{\left(\alpha+\frac{1}{2}\right)}(x) . \end{aligned}
Legendre:P_n(x)=C_n^{\left(\frac{1}{2}\right)}(x)=P_n^{(0,0)}(x)
Chebyshev:\begin{aligned} T_n(x)&=P_n^{\left(-\frac{1}{2},-\frac{1}{2}\right)}(x) / P_n^{\left(-\frac{1}{2},-\frac{1}{2}\right)}(1), \\ U_n(x)&=C_n^{(1)}(x)=(n+1) P_n^{\left(\frac{1}{2}, \frac{1}{2}\right)}(x) / P_n^{\left(\frac{1}{2}, \frac{1}{2}\right)}(1), \\ V_n(x)&=P_n^{\left(-\frac{1}{2}, \frac{1}{2}\right)}(x) / P_n^{\left(-\frac{1}{2}, \frac{1}{2}\right)}(1), \\ W_n(x)&=(2 n+1) P_n^{\left(\frac{1}{2},-\frac{1}{2}\right)}(x) / P_n^{\left(\frac{1}{2},-\frac{1}{2}\right)}(1) . \\ T_n^*(x)&=T_n(2 x-1), \\ U_n^*(x)&=U_n(2 x-1) . \end{aligned}
Laguerre:\begin{aligned} \lim_{\beta \rightarrow \infty} P_n^{(\alpha, \beta)}(1-(2 x / \beta))&=L_n^{(\alpha)}(x) . \\ \lim_{\alpha \rightarrow \infty} P_n^{(\alpha, \beta)}((2 x / \alpha)-1)&=(-1)^n L_n^{(\beta)}(x) . \end{aligned}Hermite:\lim _{\alpha \rightarrow \infty} \alpha^{-\frac{1}{2} n} P_n^{(\alpha, \alpha)}\left(\alpha^{-\frac{1}{2}} x\right)=\frac{H_n(x)}{2^n n!}
Stochastic process The Jacobi polynomials appear as the eigenfunctions of the
Markov process on [-1, +1]\mathcal{L}=\left(1-x^2\right) \frac{\partial^2}{\partial x^2}+(p x+q) \frac{\partial}{\partial x} defined up to the time it hits the boundary. For p=-(\beta+\alpha+2), q=\beta-\alpha, we have\mathcal{L} P_n^{(\alpha, \beta)} = -n(n+\alpha+\beta+1) P_n^{(\alpha, \beta)}Thus this process is named the
Jacobi process.
Heat kernel Let • J^{(\alpha, \beta)} := -\left(1-x^2\right) \frac{d^2}{d x^2}-[\beta-\alpha-(\alpha+\beta+2) x] \frac{d}{d x} • T_t^{(\alpha, \beta)} := e^{-tJ^{(\alpha, \beta)}} • h_n^{(\alpha, \beta)}=\int_{-1}^1\left[P_n^{(\alpha, \beta)}(x)\right]^2(1-x)^\alpha(1+x)^\beta d x = \frac{2^{\alpha+\beta+1} \Gamma(n+\alpha+1) \Gamma(n+\beta+1)}{(2 n+\alpha+\beta+1) \Gamma(n+\alpha+\beta+1) \Gamma(n+1)} • G_t^{(\alpha, \beta)}(x, y)=\sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \exp (-t n(n+\alpha+\beta+1)) \frac{P_n^{(\alpha, \beta)}(x) P_n^{(\alpha, \beta)}(y)}{h_n^{(\alpha, \beta)}}, \quad x, y \in[-1,1], \quad t>0, • d \rho_{(\alpha, \beta)}(x)=(1-x)^\alpha(1+x)^\beta d x Then, for any f \in L^1\left(d \rho_{(\alpha, \beta)}\right),\operatorname{Disc}\left(P_n^{(\alpha, \beta)}\right)=2^{-n(n-1)} \prod_{j=1}^n j^{j-2 n+2}(j+\alpha)^{j-1}(j+\beta)^{j-1}(n+j+\alpha+\beta)^{n-j}
Bailey’s formula:\begin{aligned} & \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \frac{P_n^{(\alpha, \beta)}(\cos \theta) P_n^{(\alpha, \beta)}(\cos \varphi)}{h_n^{(\alpha, \beta)}} r^n=\frac{\Gamma(\alpha+\beta+2)}{2^{\alpha+\beta+1} \Gamma(\alpha+1) \Gamma(\beta+1)} \frac{1-r}{(1+r)^{\alpha+\beta+2}} \\ & \quad \times F_4\left(\frac{\alpha+\beta+2}{2}, \frac{\alpha+\beta+3}{2} ; \alpha+1, \beta+1 ;\left(\frac{2 \sin \frac{\theta}{2} \sin \frac{\varphi}{2}}{r^{1 / 2}+r^{-1 / 2}}\right)^2,\left(\frac{2 \cos \frac{\theta}{2} \cos \frac{\varphi}{2}}{r^{1 / 2}+r^{-1 / 2}}\right)^2\right) \end{aligned}where |r|-1, and F_4 is
Appel's hypergeometric function of two variables. This is an analog of the
Mehler kernel for
Hermite polynomials, and the
Hardy–Hille formula for Laguerre polynomials.
Laplace-type integral representation:\begin{aligned} P_n^{\left(\alpha, \beta\right)}\left(1-2 t^2\right)= & \frac{(-1)^n 2^{2 n}}{\pi(2 n)!} \frac{\Gamma(n+\alpha+1) \Gamma(n+\beta+1)}{\Gamma\left(\alpha+\frac{1}{2}\right) \Gamma\left(\beta+\frac{1}{2}\right)} . \\ & \int_{-1}^1 \int_{-1}^1\left(t u \pm i \sqrt{1-t^2} v\right)^{2 n}\left(1-u^2\right)^{\alpha-\frac{1}{2}}\left(1-v^2\right)^{\beta-\frac{1}{2}} d u d v . \end{aligned} == Zeroes ==