A numerical algorithm for computing the zeros of parabolic cylinder functions in the complex plane

Abstract A numerical algorithm (implemented in Matlab) for computing the zeros of the parabolic cylinder function U ( a , z ) in domains of the complex plane is presented. The algorithm uses accurate approximations to the first zero plus a highly efficient method based on a fourth-order fixed point method with the parabolic cylinder functions computed by Taylor series and carefully selected steps, to compute the rest of the zeros. For | a | small, the asymptotic approximations are complemented with a few fixed point iterations requiring the evaluation of U ( a , z ) and $$U'(a,z)$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msup> <mml:mi>U</mml:mi> <mml:mo>′</mml:mo> </mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mi>a</mml:mi> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mi>z</mml:mi> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> in the region where the complex zeros are located. Liouville–Green expansions are derived to enhance the performance of a computational scheme to evaluate U ( a , z ) and $$U'(a,z)$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msup> <mml:mi>U</mml:mi> <mml:mo>′</mml:mo> </mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mi>a</mml:mi> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mi>z</mml:mi> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> in that region. Several tests show the accuracy and efficiency of the numerical algorithm.