Interlacing and non-orthogonality of spectral polynomials for the Lamé operator

A. Bourget, T. McMillen, A. Vargas

Published 2008-10-20Version 1

Polynomial solutions to the generalized Lam\'e equation, the Stieltjes polynomials, and the associated Van Vleck polynomials have been studied since the 1830's in various contexts including the solution of Laplace equations on an ellipsoid. Recently there has been renewed interest in the distribution of the zeros of Van Vleck polynomials as the degree of the corresponding Stieltjes polynomials increases. In this paper we show that the zeros of Van Vleck polynomials corresponding to Stieltjes polynomials of successive degrees interlace. We also show that the spectral polynomials formed from the Van Vleck zeros are not orthogonal with respect to any weight. This furnishes a counterexample, coming from a second order differential equation, to the converse of the well known theorem that the zeros of orthogonal polynomials interlace.