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 after Leopold Gegenbauer.

Gegenbauer polynomials with α=1

Gegenbauer polynomials with α=2

Gegenbauer polynomials with α=3

Gegenbauer polynomials

A variety of characterizations of the Gegenbauer polynomials are available.

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

To wit, for n ≠ m,

They are normalized by

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,

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 ${\displaystyle C_{n,k}^{((n-2)/2)}(\mathbf {x} \cdot \mathbf {y} )}$ 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.

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