31 Heun FunctionsProperties

§31.8 Solutions via Quadratures

For half-odd-integer values of the exponent parameters:

31.8.1 β−α =m0+12,
γ =−m1+12,
δ =−m2+12,
ϵ =−m3+12,
m0,m1,m2,m3=0,1,2,…,

the Hermite–Darboux method (see Whittaker and Watson (1927, pp. 570–572)) can be applied to construct solutions of (31.2.1) expressed in quadratures, as follows.

Denote 𝐦=(m0,m1,m2,m3) and λ=−4⁢q. Then

31.8.2 w±⁡(𝐦;λ;z)=Ψg,N⁡(λ,z)⁢exp⁡(±i⁢ν⁢(λ)2⁢∫z0ztm1⁢(t−1)m2⁢(t−a)m3⁢dtΨg,N⁡(λ,t)⁢t⁢(t−1)⁢(t−a))

are two independent solutions of (31.2.1). Here Ψg,N⁡(λ,z) is a polynomial of degree g in λ and of degree N=m0+m1+m2+m3 in z, that is a solution of the third-order differential equation satisfied by a product of any two solutions of Heun’s equation. The degree g is given by

31.8.3 g=12⁢max⁡(2⁢max0≤k≤3⁡mk,1+N−(1+(−1)N)⁢(12+min0≤k≤3⁡mk)).

The variables λ and ν are two coordinates of the associated hyperelliptic (spectral) curve Γ:ν2=∏j=12⁢g+1(λ−λj). (This ν is unrelated to the ν in §31.6.) Lastly, λj, j=1,2,…,2⁢g+1, are the zeros of the Wronskian of w+⁡(𝐦;λ;z) and w−⁡(𝐦;λ;z).

By automorphisms from §31.2(v), similar solutions also exist for m0,m1,m2,m3∈ℤ, and Ψg,N⁡(λ,z) may become a rational function in z. For instance,

31.8.4 Ψ1,2 =z2+λ⁢z+a,
ν2 =(λ+a+1)⁢(λ2−4⁢a),
𝐦=(1,1,0,0),

and

31.8.5 Ψ1,−1 =(z2+(λ+3⁢a+3)⁢z+a)/z3,
ν2 =(λ+4⁢a+4)⁢((λ+3⁢a+3)2−4⁢a),
𝐦=(1,−2,0,0).

For 𝐦=(m0,0,0,0), these solutions reduce to Hermite’s solutions (Whittaker and Watson (1927, §23.7)) of the Lamé equation in its algebraic form. The curve Γ reflects the finite-gap property of Equation (31.2.1) when the exponent parameters satisfy (31.8.1) for mj∈ℤ. When λ=−4⁢q approaches the ends of the gaps, the solution (31.8.2) becomes the corresponding Heun polynomial. For more details see Smirnov (2002).

The solutions in this section are finite-term Liouvillean solutions which can be constructed via Kovacic’s algorithm; see §31.14(ii).