Paper 2, Section I, A

Methods
Part IB, 2011

The Legendre equation is

(1x2)d2ydx22xdydx+n(n+1)y=0\left(1-x^{2}\right) \frac{d^{2} y}{d x^{2}}-2 x \frac{d y}{d x}+n(n+1) y=0

for 1x1-1 \leqslant x \leqslant 1 and non-negative integers nn.

Write the Legendre equation as an eigenvalue equation for an operator LL in SturmLiouville form. Show that LL is self-adjoint and find the orthogonality relation between the eigenfunctions.