Matrix orthogonal polynomials whose derivatives are also orthogonal

In this paper we prove some characterizations of the matrix orthogonal polynomials whose derivatives are also orthogonal, which generalize other known ones in the scalar case. In particular, we prove that the corresponding orthogonality matrix functional is characterized by a Pearson-type equation with two matrix polynomials of degree not greater than 2 and 1. The proofs are given for a general sequence of matrix orthogonal polynomials, not necessarily associated with an hermitian functional. However, we give several examples of non-diagonalizable positive definite weight matrices satisfying a Pearson-type equation, which show that the previous results are non-trivial even in the positive definite case. A detailed analysis is made for the class of matrix functionals which satisfy a Pearson-type equation whose polynomial of degree not greater than 2 is scalar. We characterize the Pearson-type equations of this kind that yield a sequence of matrix orthogonal polynomials, and we prove that these matrix orthogonal polynomials satisfy a second order differential equation even in the non-hermitian case. Finally, we prove and improve a conjecture of Duran and Grunbaum concerning the triviality of this class in the positive definite case, while some examples show the non-triviality for hermitian functionals which are not positive definite.Comment: 49 page

Minimal representations of unitary operators and orthogonal polynomials on the unit circle

In this paper we prove that the simplest band representations of unitary operators on a Hilbert space are five-diagonal. Orthogonal polynomials on the unit circle play an essential role in the development of this result, and also provide a parametrization of such five-diagonal representations which shows specially simple and interesting decomposition and factorization properties. As an application we get the reduction of the spectral problem of any unitary Hessenberg matrix to the spectral problem of a five-diagonal one. Two applications of these results to the study of orthogonal polynomials on the unit circle are presented: the first one concerns Krein's Theorem; the second one deals with the movement of mass points of the orthogonality measure under monoparametric perturbations of the Schur parameters.Comment: 31 page

An extension of the associated rational functions on the unit circle

A special class of orthogonal rational functions (ORFs) is presented in this paper. Starting with a sequence of ORFs and the corresponding rational functions of the second kind, we define a new sequence as a linear combination of the previous ones, the coefficients of this linear combination being self-reciprocal rational functions. We show that, under very general conditions on the self-reciprocal coefficients, this new sequence satisfies orthogonality conditions as well as a recurrence relation. Further, we identify the Caratheodory function of the corresponding orthogonality measure in terms of such self-reciprocal coefficients. The new class under study includes the associated rational functions as a particular case. As a consequence of the previous general analysis, we obtain explicit representations for the associated rational functions of arbitrary order, as well as for the related Caratheodory function. Such representations are used to find new properties of the associated rational functions.Comment: 27 page

One-dimensional quantum walks with one defect

The CGMV method allows for the general discussion of localization properties for the states of a one-dimensional quantum walk, both in the case of the integers and in the case of the non negative integers. Using this method we classify, according to such localization properties, all the quantum walks with one defect at the origin, providing explicit expressions for the asymptotic return probabilities at the origin