English

Catalan Moments

Number Theory 2011-02-22 v1

Abstract

This paper is essentially devoted to the study of some interesting relations among the well known operators I(x)I^{(x)} (the interpolated Invert), L(x)L^{(x)} (the interpolated Binomial) and Revert (that we call η\eta). We prove that I(x)I^{(x)} and L(x)L^{(x)} are conjugated in the group Υ(R)\Upsilon(R). Here RR is a commutative unitary ring. In the same group we see that η\eta transforms I(x)I^{(x)} in L(x)L^{(-x)} by conjugation. These facts are proved as corollaries of much more general results. Then we carefully analyze the action of these operators on the set \mcR\mc{R} of second order linear recurrent sequences. While I(x)I^{(x)} and L(x)L^{(x)} transform \mcR\mc{R} in itself, η\eta sends \mcR\mc{R} in the set of moment sequences μn(h,k)\mu_n(h,k) of particular families of orthogonal polynomials, whose weight functions are explicitly computed. The moments come out to be generalized Motzkin numbers (if R=\zzR=\zz, the Motzkin numbers are μn(1,1)\mu_n(-1,1)). We give several interesting expressions of μn(h,k)\mu_n(h,k) in closed forms, and one recurrence relation. There is a fundamental sequence of moments, that generates all the other ones, μn(0,k)\mu_n(0,k). These moments are strongly related with Catalan numbers. This fact allows us to find, in the final part, a new identity on Catalan numbers by using orthogonality relations.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1102.4089,
  title  = {Catalan Moments},
  author = {Stefano Barbero and Umberto Cerruti},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1102.4089},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

22 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-21T17:29:01.015Z