Definition in terms of Bessel functions

The Bessel polynomial may also be defined using Bessel functions from which the polynomial draws its name.

${\displaystyle y_{n}(x)=\,x^{n}\theta _{n}(1/x)\,}$

${\displaystyle y_{n}(x)={\sqrt {\frac {2}{\pi x}}}\,e^{1/x}K_{n+{\frac {1}{2}}}(1/x)}$

${\displaystyle \theta _{n}(x)={\sqrt {\frac {2}{\pi }}}\,x^{n+1/2}e^{x}K_{n+{\frac {1}{2}}}(x)}$

where K_n(x) is a modified Bessel function of the second kind, y_n(x) is the ordinary polynomial, and θ_n(x) is the reverse polynomial .^{[2]: 7, 34} For example:^[4]

${\displaystyle y_{3}(x)=15x^{3}+15x^{2}+6x+1={\sqrt {\frac {2}{\pi x}}}\,e^{1/x}K_{3+{\frac {1}{2}}}(1/x)}$

Definition as a hypergeometric function

The Bessel polynomial may also be defined as a confluent hypergeometric function^[5]: 8

${\displaystyle y_{n}(x)=\,_{2}F_{0}(-n,n+1;;-x/2)=\left({\frac {2}{x}}\right)^{-n}U\left(-n,-2n,{\frac {2}{x}}\right)=\left({\frac {2}{x}}\right)^{n+1}U\left(n+1,2n+2,{\frac {2}{x}}\right).}$

A similar expression holds true for the generalized Bessel polynomials (see below):^[2]: 35

${\displaystyle y_{n}(x;a,b)=\,_{2}F_{0}(-n,n+a-1;;-x/b)=\left({\frac {b}{x}}\right)^{n+a-1}U\left(n+a-1,2n+a,{\frac {b}{x}}\right).}$

The reverse Bessel polynomial may be defined as a generalized Laguerre polynomial:

${\displaystyle \theta _{n}(x)={\frac {n!}{(-2)^{n}}}\,L_{n}^{-2n-1}(2x)}$

from which it follows that it may also be defined as a hypergeometric function:

${\displaystyle \theta _{n}(x)={\frac {(-2n)_{n}}{(-2)^{n}}}\,\,_{1}F_{1}(-n;-2n;2x)}$

where (−2n)_n is the Pochhammer symbol (rising factorial).

Generating function

The Bessel polynomials, with index shifted, have the generating function

${\displaystyle \sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\sqrt {\frac {2}{\pi }}}x^{n+{\frac {1}{2}}}e^{x}K_{n-{\frac {1}{2}}}(x){\frac {t^{n}}{n!}}=1+x\sum _{n=1}^{\infty }\theta _{n-1}(x){\frac {t^{n}}{n!}}=e^{x(1-{\sqrt {1-2t}})}.}$

Differentiating with respect to ${\displaystyle t}$, cancelling ${\displaystyle x}$, yields the generating function for the polynomials ${\displaystyle \{\theta _{n}\}_{n\geq 0}}$

${\displaystyle \sum _{n=0}^{\infty }\theta _{n}(x){\frac {t^{n}}{n!}}={\frac {1}{\sqrt {1-2t}}}e^{x(1-{\sqrt {1-2t}})}.}$

Similar generating function exists for the ${\displaystyle y_{n}}$ polynomials as well:^[1]: 106

${\displaystyle \sum _{n=0}^{\infty }y_{n-1}(x){\frac {t^{n}}{n!}}=\exp \left({\frac {1-{\sqrt {1-2xt}}}{x}}\right).}$

Upon setting ${\displaystyle t=z-xz^{2}/2}$, one has the following representation for the exponential function:^[1]: 107

${\displaystyle e^{z}=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }y_{n-1}(x){\frac {(z-xz^{2}/2)^{n}}{n!}}.}$

Recursion

The Bessel polynomial may also be defined by a recursion formula:

${\displaystyle y_{0}(x)=1\,}$

${\displaystyle y_{1}(x)=x+1\,}$

${\displaystyle y_{n}(x)=(2n\!-\!1)x\,y_{n-1}(x)+y_{n-2}(x)\,}$

and

${\displaystyle \theta _{0}(x)=1\,}$

${\displaystyle \theta _{1}(x)=x+1\,}$

${\displaystyle \theta _{n}(x)=(2n\!-\!1)\theta _{n-1}(x)+x^{2}\theta _{n-2}(x)\,}$

Differential equation

The Bessel polynomial obeys the following differential equation:

${\displaystyle x^{2}{\frac {d^{2}y_{n}(x)}{dx^{2}}}+2(x\!+\!1){\frac {dy_{n}(x)}{dx}}-n(n+1)y_{n}(x)=0}$

and

${\displaystyle x{\frac {d^{2}\theta _{n}(x)}{dx^{2}}}-2(x\!+\!n){\frac {d\theta _{n}(x)}{dx}}+2n\,\theta _{n}(x)=0}$

Orthogonality

The Bessel polynomials are orthogonal with respect to the weight ${\displaystyle e^{-2/x}}$ integrated over the unit circle of the complex plane.^[1]: 104 In other words, if ${\displaystyle n\neq m}$,

${\displaystyle \int _{0}^{2\pi }y_{n}\left(e^{i\theta }\right)y_{m}\left(e^{i\theta }\right)ie^{i\theta }\mathrm {d} \theta =0}$

Explicit Form

A generalization of the Bessel polynomials have been suggested in literature, as following:

${\displaystyle y_{n}(x;\alpha ,\beta ):=(-1)^{n}n!\left({\frac {x}{\beta }}\right)^{n}L_{n}^{(-1-2n-\alpha )}\left({\frac {\beta }{x}}\right),}$

the corresponding reverse polynomials are

${\displaystyle \theta _{n}(x;\alpha ,\beta ):={\frac {n!}{(-\beta )^{n}}}L_{n}^{(-1-2n-\alpha )}(\beta x)=x^{n}y_{n}\left({\frac {1}{x}};\alpha ,\beta \right).}$

The explicit coefficients of the ${\displaystyle y_{n}(x;\alpha ,\beta )}$ polynomials are:^[1]: 108

${\displaystyle y_{n}(x;\alpha ,\beta )=\sum _{k=0}^{n}{\binom {n}{k}}(n+k+\alpha -2)^{\underline {k}}\left({\frac {x}{\beta }}\right)^{k}.}$

Consequently, the ${\displaystyle \theta _{n}(x;\alpha ,\beta )}$ polynomials can explicitly be written as follows:

${\displaystyle \theta _{n}(x;\alpha ,\beta )=\sum _{k=0}^{n}{\binom {n}{k}}(2n-k+\alpha -2)^{\underline {n-k}}{\frac {x^{k}}{\beta ^{n-k}}}.}$

For the weighting function

${\displaystyle \rho (x;\alpha ,\beta ):=\,_{1}F_{1}\left(1,\alpha -1,-{\frac {\beta }{x}}\right)}$

they are orthogonal, for the relation

${\displaystyle 0=\oint _{c}\rho (x;\alpha ,\beta )y_{n}(x;\alpha ,\beta )y_{m}(x;\alpha ,\beta )\mathrm {d} x}$

holds for m ≠ n and c a curve surrounding the 0 point.

They specialize to the Bessel polynomials for α = β = 2, in which situation ρ(x) = exp(−2 / x).

Rodrigues formula for Bessel polynomials

The Rodrigues formula for the Bessel polynomials as particular solutions of the above differential equation is :

${\displaystyle B_{n}^{(\alpha ,\beta )}(x)={\frac {a_{n}^{(\alpha ,\beta )}}{x^{\alpha }e^{-{\frac {\beta }{x}}}}}\left({\frac {d}{dx}}\right)^{n}(x^{\alpha +2n}e^{-{\frac {\beta }{x}}})}$

where a^(α, β)
_n are normalization coefficients.

Associated Bessel polynomials

According to this generalization we have the following generalized differential equation for associated Bessel polynomials:

${\displaystyle x^{2}{\frac {d^{2}B_{n,m}^{(\alpha ,\beta )}(x)}{dx^{2}}}+[(\alpha +2)x+\beta ]{\frac {dB_{n,m}^{(\alpha ,\beta )}(x)}{dx}}-\left[n(\alpha +n+1)+{\frac {m\beta }{x}}\right]B_{n,m}^{(\alpha ,\beta )}(x)=0}$

where ${\displaystyle 0\leq m\leq n}$. The solutions are,

${\displaystyle B_{n,m}^{(\alpha ,\beta )}(x)={\frac {a_{n,m}^{(\alpha ,\beta )}}{x^{\alpha +m}e^{-{\frac {\beta }{x}}}}}\left({\frac {d}{dx}}\right)^{n-m}(x^{\alpha +2n}e^{-{\frac {\beta }{x}}})}$