Mn(x) is a special case of the Meixner polynomialMn(x;b,c) at b = 0, c = -1.
Definition and examples
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Generating functions
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The Mittag-Leffler polynomials are defined respectively by the generating functions
and
They also have the bivariate generating function[1]
Examples
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The first few polynomials are given in the following table. The coefficients of the numerators of the can be found in the OEIS,[2] though without any references, and the coefficients of the are in the OEIS[3] as well.
n
gn(x)
Mn(x)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Properties
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The polynomials are related by and we have for . Also .
Explicit formulas
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Explicit formulas are
(the last one immediately shows , a kind of reflection formula), and
As stated above, for , we have the reflection formula .
Recursion formulas
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The polynomials can be defined recursively by
, starting with and .
Another recursion formula, which produces an odd one from the preceding even ones and vice versa, is
, again starting with .
As for the , we have several different recursion formulas:
Concerning recursion formula (3), the polynomial is the unique polynomial solution of the difference equation , normalized so that .[5] Further note that (2) and (3) are dual to each other in the sense that for , we can apply the reflection formula to one of the identities and then swap and to obtain the other one. (As the are polynomials, the validity extends from natural to all real values of .)
Initial values
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The table of the initial values of (these values are also called the "figurate numbers for the n-dimensional cross polytopes" in the OEIS[6]) may illustrate the recursion formula (1), which can be taken to mean that each entry is the sum of the three neighboring entries: to its left, above and above left, e.g. . It also illustrates the reflection formula with respect to the main diagonal, e.g. .
n
m
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
3
3
9
19
33
51
73
99
129
4
4
16
44
96
180
304
476
5
5
25
85
225
501
985
6
6
36
146
456
1182
7
7
49
231
833
8
8
64
344
9
9
81
10
10
Orthogonality relations
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For the following orthogonality relation holds:[7]
(Note that this is not a complex integral. As each is an even or an odd polynomial, the imaginary arguments just produce alternating signs for their coefficients. Moreover, if and have different parity, the integral vanishes trivially.)
Based on the representation as a hypergeometric function, there are several ways of representing for directly as integrals,[9] some of them being even valid for complex , e.g.
.
Closed forms of integral families
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There are several families of integrals with closed-form expressions in terms of zeta values where the coefficients of the Mittag-Leffler polynomials occur as coefficients. All those integrals can be written in a form containing either a factor or , and the degree of the Mittag-Leffler polynomial varies with . One way to work out those integrals is to obtain for them the corresponding recursion formulas as for the Mittag-Leffler polynomials using integration by parts.
If is even and we define , we have in umbral notation, i.e. replacing by ,
Note that only odd zeta values (odd ) occur here (unless the denominators are cast as even zeta values), e.g.
5. If is odd, the same integral is much more involved to evaluate, including the initial one . Yet it turns out that the pattern subsists if we define[13], equivalently . Then has the following closed form in umbral notation, replacing by :
6. For , the same integral diverges because the integrand behaves like for . But the difference of two such integrals with corresponding degree differences is well-defined and exhibits very similar patterns, e.g.
Mittag-Leffler, G. (1891), "Sur la représentasion analytique des intégrales et des invariants d'une équation différentielle linéaire et homogène", Acta Mathematica (in French), XV: 1–32, doi:10.1007/BF02392600, ISSN 0001-5962, JFM 23.0327.01