Determinants and Their Applications in Mathematical Physics

(Chris Devlin) #1

160 4. Particular Determinants


Reverting toxand referring to (4.12.17),


xDx

[

Gn− 1

Fn− 1

]

=

FnGn− 2

F

2
n− 1

, (4.12.28)

where the elements in the determinants are nowψm(x),m=0, 1 , 2 ,....


The difference formula


m
ψ 0 =xψm,m=1, 2 , 3 ,..., (4.12.29)

is proved in Appendix A.8. Hence, applying the theorem in Section 4.8.2


on Hankelians whose elements are differences,


En=|ψm|n, 0 ≤m≤ 2 n− 2

=|∆

m
ψ 0 |n

=

∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ ∣

ψ 0 xψ 1 xψ 2 ···

xψ 1 xψ 2 xψ 3 ···

xψ 2 xψ 3 xψ 4 ···

....................

∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ n

. (4.12.30)

Every element except the one in position (1,1) contains the factorx. Hence,


removing these factors and applying the relation


ψ 0 /x=ψ 0 +1,

En=x

n

∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ ∣

ψ 0 +1 ψ 1 ψ 2 ···

ψ 1 ψ 2 ψ 3 ···

ψ 2 ψ 3 ψ 4 ···

....................

∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ ∣ n

=x

n

(

En+E

(n)
11

)

. (4.12.31)

Hence


E

(n)
11
=Gn− 1 =

(

1 −x
n

x
n

)

En. (4.12.32)

Put


un=

Gn

Fn

,

vn=

En− 1

En

. (4.12.33)

The theorem is proved by deducing and solving a differential–difference


equation satisfied byun:


vn

vn+1

=

En− 1 En+1

E

2
n

.

From (4.12.32),


Gn− 1

Gn

=

x(1−x

n
)vn+1

1 −x
n+1

. (4.12.34)
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