XXVII.—Expansions of Lamé Functions into Series of Legendre Functions

Abstract

Summary28. This paper contains the investigation of certain properties of periodic solutions of Lamé's differential equation by means of representation of these solutions by (in general infinite) series of associated Legendre functions. Terminating series of associated Legendre functions representing Lamé polynomials have been used by E. Heine and G. H. Darwin. The latter used them also for numerical computation of Lamé polynomials. It appears that infinite series of Legendre functions representing transcendental Lamé functions have not been discussed previously. In two respects these series seem to be superior to the generally used power-series and Fourier-Jacobi series, (i) They are convergent in some parts of the complex plane of the variable where both power-series and Fourier-Jacobi series diverge, (ii) They permit by simply replacing Legendre functions of first kind by those of second kind, to deal with Lamé functions of second kind as well as Lamé functions of first kind (§ 15).In §§ 2 and 8 of the present paper the series are heuristically deduced from the integral equations satisfied by periodic Lamé functions. Inserting the series found heuristically, with unknown coefficients, into Lamé's differential equation, recurrence relations for the coefficients are obtained (§§ 9–12). These recurrence relations yield the (in general transcendental) equations in form of (in general infinite) continued fractions for the determination of the characteristic numbers. The convergence of the series can be discussed completely.There are altogether forty-eight different series. Every one of the eight types of Lamé polynomials is represented by six different series (see table in § 13). There are interesting relations (§ 14) between series representing the same function.Next infinite series representing transcendental Lamé functions are discussed. It is seen that transcendental Lamé functions are only simply-periodic (§§ 18, 19). Lamé functions of real (§§ 20–22) and imaginary (§§ 23-24) period are represented by series of Legendre functions the variables of which are different in both cases.The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the most important limiting cases, and a short mention of other types of series of Legendre functions representing Lamé functions.