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Thursday, November 12, 2015

Proof of the Christoffel–Darboux formula without induction

In this post I prove the Christoffel–Darboux formula without using induction. It seems that often the Christoffel–Darboux formula is proved with induction. However, I find that the proof with induction does not give insight why the Christoffel–Darboux formula is correct. I found the proof below in a paper by Barry Simon.
The Christoffel–Darboux formula is a well-known formula in the theory of orthogonal polynomials. If pk(x) with k=0,1, is a set of orthogonal polynomials, normalized such that +dx w(x) pk(x)pl(x)=δkl
then the kernel Kn(x,y)=nk=0pk(x)pk(y)
has the form Kn(x,y)=knkn+1pn+1(x)pn(y)pn(x)pn+1(y)xy
with kn the leading coefficient of pn(x). Formula (1) is the Christoffel–Darboux formula.

Proof
To make the proof more transparent, I use the bracket notation which is common in quantum mechanics: pn(x) is represented by the ket |n. The convolution with Kn is by definition +dy w(y) Kn(x,y)f(y)=nk=0pk(x)+dy w(y) pk(y)f(y)
Thus the operator Kn:f+dy w(y) Kn(x,y)f(y) has the form Kn=nk=0|kk|
The essential point in the proof is to calculate the commutator [x,Kn] [x,Kn]f(x)=xKnf(x)Knxf(x)=x+dy w(y) Kn(x,y)f(y)+dy w(y) Kn(x,y)yf(y)=+dy w(y)(xy) Kn(x,y)f(y)
The Christoffel–Darboux formula is thus equivalent with [x,Kn]=knkn+1(|n+1n||nn+1|)
Formula (3) is easily calculated based on (2). First expand the multiplication operator x in the basis |k x=k,l|k k|x|l l|
The matrix elements k|x|l form the Jacobi matrix; that is why I use the notation Jk,l=k|x|l. Now I calculate [x,Kn]=k,lmnJk,l[|kl| , |mm|]=k,lmnJk,l(|kl|mm||mm|kl|)
using orthonormality gives [x,Kn]=klnJk,l|kl|lknJk,l|kl|
Now use the fact that the Jacobi matrix Jk,l is tridiagonal, almost all terms cancel, except two. This gives [x,Kn]=Jn+1,n|n+1n|Jn,n+1|nn+1|
The Christoffel–Darboux formula is then proved because it is well-known that Jn+1,n=Jn,n+1=knkn+1

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