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RESEARCH PRODUCT

A code to evaluate prolate and oblate spheroidal harmonics

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Abstract We present a code to evaluate prolate ( P n m ( x ), Q n m ( x ); n ≥ m , x > 1) and oblate ( P n m ( ix ), Q n m ( ix ); n ≥ m , x > 0) spheroidal harmonics, that is, spherical harmonics ( n and m integers) for real arguments larger than one and for purely imaginary arguments. We start from the known values (in closed form) of P m m and P m +1 m and we apply the forward recurrence relation over n up to a given degree n = N Max . The Wronskian relating P 's and Q 's, together with the evaluation of the continued fraction for Q m+N staggeredMax m / Q m+N staggeredMax -1 m , allows the calculation of Q m+N staggeredMax m and Q m+N staggeredMax -1 m . Backward recurrence is then applied to generate the Q's. We show an application of the algorithm.