A hyperelliptic saga on a generating function of the squares of Legendre polynomials

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: van Hoeij, Mark, van Straten, Duco, Zudilin, Wadim
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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_version_ 1866915471319629824
author van Hoeij, Mark
van Straten, Duco
Zudilin, Wadim
author_facet van Hoeij, Mark
van Straten, Duco
Zudilin, Wadim
contents We decompose the generating function $\sum_{n=0}^\infty\binom{2n}nP_n(y)^2z^n$ of the squares of Legendre polynomials as a product of periods of hyperelliptic curves. These periods satisfy a family of $\textit{second}$ order differential equations. This is highly unusual since $\textit{four}$ is the expected order for genus 2. These second order equations are arithmetic and yet, surprisingly, their monodromy group is dense in $\operatorname{SL}_2(\mathbb{R})$. This suggests that they cannot be solved in terms of hypergeometric functions, which is novel for arithmetic second order differential equations that are $\textit{defined over}$ $\mathbb{Q}$, and also novel for a $\textit{family}$ of such equations. We complement our analysis with a recipe for constructing similar examples. Maple's support for the paper is available at https://www.math.fsu.edu/~hoeij/saga/.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2306_04921
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A hyperelliptic saga on a generating function of the squares of Legendre polynomials
van Hoeij, Mark
van Straten, Duco
Zudilin, Wadim
Number Theory
Algebraic Geometry
Classical Analysis and ODEs
Combinatorics
11F99, 11Y60, 14H45, 14Q05, 33C20, 33E30, 34M35
We decompose the generating function $\sum_{n=0}^\infty\binom{2n}nP_n(y)^2z^n$ of the squares of Legendre polynomials as a product of periods of hyperelliptic curves. These periods satisfy a family of $\textit{second}$ order differential equations. This is highly unusual since $\textit{four}$ is the expected order for genus 2. These second order equations are arithmetic and yet, surprisingly, their monodromy group is dense in $\operatorname{SL}_2(\mathbb{R})$. This suggests that they cannot be solved in terms of hypergeometric functions, which is novel for arithmetic second order differential equations that are $\textit{defined over}$ $\mathbb{Q}$, and also novel for a $\textit{family}$ of such equations. We complement our analysis with a recipe for constructing similar examples. Maple's support for the paper is available at https://www.math.fsu.edu/~hoeij/saga/.
title A hyperelliptic saga on a generating function of the squares of Legendre polynomials
topic Number Theory
Algebraic Geometry
Classical Analysis and ODEs
Combinatorics
11F99, 11Y60, 14H45, 14Q05, 33C20, 33E30, 34M35
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.04921