Asymptotic approximations to the nodes and weights of Gauss-Hermite and Gauss-Laguerre quadratures

Asymptotic approximations to the zeros of Hermite and Laguerre polynomials are given, together with methods for obtaining the coefficients in the expansions. These approximations can be used as a standalone method of computation of Gaussian quadratures for high enough degrees, with Gaussian weights computed from asymptotic approximations for the orthogonal polynomials. We provide numerical evidence showing that for degrees greater than $100$ the asymptotic methods are enough for a double precision accuracy computation ($15$-$16$ digits) of the nodes and weights of the Gauss--Hermite and Gauss--Laguerre quadratures.Comment: Submitted to Studies in Applied Mathematic

Computation of the Marcum Q-function

Methods and an algorithm for computing the generalized Marcum $Q-$function ($Q_{\mu}(x,y)$) and the complementary function ($P_{\mu}(x,y)$) are described. These functions appear in problems of different technical and scientific areas such as, for example, radar detection and communications, statistics and probability theory, where they are called the non-central chi-square or the non central gamma cumulative distribution functions. The algorithm for computing the Marcum functions combines different methods of evaluation in different regions: series expansions, integral representations, asymptotic expansions, and use of three-term homogeneous recurrence relations. A relative accuracy close to $10^{-12}$ can be obtained in the parameter region $(x,y,\mu) \in [0,\,A]\times [0,\,A]\times [1,\,A]$, $A=200$, while for larger parameters the accuracy decreases (close to $10^{-11}$ for $A=1000$ and close to $5\times 10^{-11}$ for $A=10000$).Comment: Accepted for publication in ACM Trans. Math. Soft

Conical: an extended module for computing a numerically satisfactory pair of solutions of the differential equation for conical functions

Conical functions appear in a large number of applications in physics and engineering. In this paper we describe an extension of our module CONICAL for the computation of conical functions. Specifically, the module includes now a routine for computing the function ${{\rm R}}^{m}_{-\frac{1}{2}+i\tau}(x)$, a real-valued numerically satisfactory companion of the function ${\rm P}^m_{-\tfrac12+i\tau}(x)$ for $x>1$. In this way, a natural basis for solving Dirichlet problems bounded by conical domains is provided.Comment: To appear in Computer Physics Communication

Entropic functionals of Laguerre and Gegenbauer polynomials with large parameters

The determination of the physical entropies (R\'enyi, Shannon, Tsallis) of high-dimensional quantum systems subject to a central potential requires the knowledge of the asymptotics of some power and logarithmic integral functionals of the hypergeometric orthogonal polynomials which control the wavefunctions of the stationary states. For the $D$-dimensional hydrogenic and oscillator-like systems, the wavefunctions of the corresponding bound states are controlled by the Laguerre ($\mathcal{L}_{m}^{(\alpha)}(x)$) and Gegenbauer ($\mathcal{C}^{(\alpha)}_{m}(x)$) polynomials in both position and momentum spaces, where the parameter $\alpha$ linearly depends on $D$. In this work we study the asymptotic behavior as $\alpha \to \infty$ of the associated entropy-like integral functionals of these two families of hypergeometric polynomials

Fermions on one or fewer Kinks

We find the full spectrum of fermion bound states on a Z_2 kink. In addition to the zero mode, there are int[2 m_f/m_s] bound states, where m_f is the fermion and m_s the scalar mass. We also study fermion modes on the background of a well-separated kink-antikink pair. Using a variational argument, we prove that there is at least one bound state in this background, and that the energy of this bound state goes to zero with increasing kink-antikink separation, 2L, and faster than e^{-a2L} where a = min(m_s, 2 m_f). By numerical evaluation, we find some of the low lying bound states explicitly.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Computation of a numerically satisfactory pair of solutions of the differential equation for conical functions of non-negative integer orders

We consider the problem of computing satisfactory pairs of solutions of the differential equation for Legendre functions of non-negative integer order $\mu$ and degree $-\frac12+i\tau$, where $\tau$ is a non-negative real parameter. Solutions of this equation are the conical functions ${\rm{P}}^{\mu}_{-\frac12+i\tau}(x)$ and ${Q}^{\mu}_{-\frac12+i\tau}(x)$, $x>-1$. An algorithm for computing a numerically satisfactory pair of solutions is already available when $-1<x<1$ (see \cite{gil:2009:con}, \cite{gil:2012:cpc}).In this paper, we present a stable computational scheme for a real valued numerically satisfactory companion of the function ${\rm{P}}^{\mu}_{-\frac12+i\tau}(x)$ for $x>1$, the function $\Re\left\{e^{-i\pi \mu} {{Q}}^{\mu}_{-\frac{1}{2}+i\tau}(x) \right\}$. The proposed algorithm allows the computation of the function on a large parameter domain without requiring the use of extended precision arithmetic.Comment: To be published in Numerical Algoritm