Dirichlet eigenfunctions of the Chebyshev differential operator Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
The Chebyshev differential equation on , with zero endpoint values, has the Sturm-Liouville formThus and the weight defining the weighted inner product is . The substitution maps the problem to on with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. It also transforms into . Consequently the normalized eigenfunctions areTheir weighted inner product is the ordinary sine inner product on . Equivalently, , where is a Chebyshev polynomial of the second kind. These are not the cosine solutions , which have different endpoint values. The original endpoints are singular because vanishes and diverges there, but the transformed Dirichlet problem specifies the self-adjoint realization. The eigenfunctions vanish at both endpoints and their quasi-derivatives have finite limits, so the boundary form vanishes.
With the weighted inner product , the Chebyshev differential equation has the Sturm-Liouville form with coefficients , and . The substitution converts its operator to on and its inner product to the ordinary one in . The natural endpoint conditions become zero derivative conditions at .
Consequently the eigenfunctions are the Chebyshev polynomials with eigenvalues , . Their squared norms are for and otherwise. In particular and are orthogonal. The endpoints of the original differential expression are singular; specifying these transformed Neumann boundary conditions defines its self-adjoint realization. The Dirichlet eigenfunctions of the Chebyshev differential operator use a different endpoint condition and have sine rather than cosine profiles.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2001 Paper 1 7 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Boundary form. For real functions and , integration by parts givesThe integral terms containing cancel, as do the terms. This is the Lagrange identity for a Sturm-Liouville operator. The boundary conditions must make this boundary form zero for every admissible pair. Several suitable choices are homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions at both endpoints; homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions at both endpoints; one of each; or separated homogeneous Robin boundary conditionswhere each fixed real pair is nonzero. At each endpoint the two boundary data vectors are then proportional, making their antisymmetric product zero. Another choice is periodic data and , which cancel the two endpoint contributions. These domains give the required self-adjoint differential operator in the regular setting.
Eigenfunctions. Set , , and . The chain rule givesThe Chebyshev differential equation therefore becomes , with . For a positive integer , the first condition excludes the cosine term and the second is satisfied by . ThusThere is no nonzero eigenfunction: the transformed solution is linear in and vanishes at both endpoints only if identically zero. Negative merely repeats a positive mode with the opposite sign, so it is excluded from the indexing of an independent eigenbasis.
Weight and normalization. Multiplying the differential equation by puts it into Sturm-Liouville form:Hence , and . Under , the measure becomes , soThereforeThese endpoints are singular because vanishes and diverges there, but the weight is integrable. Moreover remains finite, so the vanishing values of make the boundary form zero. These are the Dirichlet eigenfunctions of the Chebyshev differential operator, not the first-kind Chebyshev polynomials , which have nonzero endpoint values.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2002 Paper 1 6 a Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Divide the Chebyshev differential equation by . Its coefficients and are analytic at zero, so The finite singular points of a differential equation are .
Insert , . The coefficient of the lowest power is , hence or . The next power gives , and the remaining powers yieldFor , is free andChoosing selects the even power series, with . For , the next-power equation forces andThis selects the odd power series, with . Their different initial values prove linear independence. Although the Frobenius method produces two possible leading exponents, zero is an ordinary point, and a general series already includes both initial constants.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2002 Paper 1 6 b Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Let for integer . In the even or odd power series whose parity matches , the numerator in the recurrence relation vanishes at the coefficient of . All coefficients of lower powers in that parity are nonzero, and all higher ones vanish. Therefore a polynomial solution exists, of polynomial degree , containingFor nonnegative these are the Chebyshev polynomials . The normalized low-degree cases follow directly from the recurrence relation:Enforcing givesTo see that normalization at one is always possible, set in the Chebyshev differential equation. For , the differential expression becomes . Thus gives on and has value one at . It is a polynomial because the cosine addition formula gives . Negative integer produces the same solution as .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2008 Paper 2 1 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Use the weighted inner product with positive weight . For a self-adjoint operator and nonzero eigenfunction , self-adjointness gives . The positive norm therefore forces to be real. For two eigenfunctions of distinct eigenvalues, the same calculation gives , proving their orthogonality.
The Chebyshev differential equation takes the Sturm-Liouville formIts operator is , so as required. For , direct substitution gives . Comparing coefficients yieldsExplicitly, using ,The endpoints are singular because vanishes and diverges there. The polynomial solutions use the natural condition at each end; under these are the Neumann eigenfunctions of the Chebyshev differential operator, proportional to . They differ from the zero-value endpoint realization of the same differential expression.
In monic form the Chebyshev differential equation has and . Both are analytic near zero, so it is an ordinary point. At , and are analytic; at , and are analytic. Thus both endpoints are regular singular points.
Insert and equate coefficients. The recurrence relation isExplicitly the factors are for and for . The lowest equation for forces . For , one may choose to select an even solution, independent of the odd solution. The leading coefficient is free in either chosen parity branch.
For a nonterminating branch the consecutive parity-term ratio tends to . Hence the ratio test gives convergence for , and radius of convergence one. Terminating branches are polynomials with infinite radius. For an integer, choose of the same parity as : the recurrence stops once , producing a degree- Chebyshev polynomial. Normalization at gives all nonzero coefficients through degree three:
Set . Direct differentiation gives , so the equation becomes . For , . A polynomial has finite derivative at , and therefore , forcing . Also , so . For , the transformed solution is affine in and the same derivative condition removes its linear term. ThusThe endpoint values follow by continuity. The finite-derivative condition is what excludes the independent nonpolynomial branch, rather than normalization alone.
For the Chebyshev differential equation , a power series about the ordinary point zero splits into even and odd solutions with the displayed recurrence relation. Every nonterminating parity series has radius of convergence one. If for a nonnegative integer , the parity series containing terminates, giving a polynomial with infinite radius of convergence; the other independent series still has radius one. Normalized solutions are and , with the latter replaced by when .
At zero the indicial equation is . The two Frobenius series have exponents zero and one half, with recurrenceThe denominators never vanish for these exponents. Unless a series terminates its coefficient ratio tends to , giving convergence within distance two of zero. If is a positive integer, the exponent-zero series terminates at degree . The substitution gives the standard Chebyshev differential equation, and this solution is a multiple of . For half-integer , termination can instead occur in the power-series factor of the exponent-one-half solution.