Skip to Content
SymmetrySymmetry
  • Article
  • Open Access

23 October 2026

13 Pages

Legendre Monomiality and Witt Algebraic Structures

ENEA, Nuclear Department, Frascati Research Center, Via E. Fermi 45, 00044 Frascati, Rome, Italy
Symmetry2026, 18(11), 1772;https://doi.org/10.3390/sym18111772 
(registering DOI)
This article belongs to the Special Issue Symmetries of Difference Equations, Special Functions and Orthogonal Polynomials: 3rd Edition

Abstract

The monomiality principle provides an algebraic framework in which polynomial families can be treated operationally as ordinary monomials, with the Heisenberg–Weyl algebra underlying the corresponding raising and lowering operators. Legendre polynomials do not belong to the elementary Appell–Sheffer scheme and therefore provide a useful test for extending monomiality beyond its conventional domain. We construct a Legendre derivative and raising operator satisfying the canonical Heisenberg–Weyl commutation relation, while their product yields the Legendre degree-number operator. This operator is a spectral function of the Legendre Sturm–Liouville operator and consequently has a generally nonlocal spectral realization. Degree-dependent dressing of the ladder operators leads to an su(1,1) algebra reflecting the quadratic n(n+1) spectrum. The same construction produces a non-negative-sector realization of the centerless Witt algebra and suggests extensions to other orthogonal-polynomial families. Particular care is devoted to the zero-degree boundary and to the domains of the inverse and square-root operators.

Article Metrics

Citations

Article Access Statistics

Article metric data becomes available approximately 24 hours after publication online.