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Horn System


A Horn system is a system of linear partial differential equations whose solutions include multivariate hypergeometric series. It consists, for i=1, ..., r, of equations of the form

 x_iP_i(theta)y(x)=Q_i(theta)y(x),
(1)

where P_i and Q_i are nonzero polynomials, theta=(theta_1,...,theta_r), and theta_i=x_ipartial/partialx_i (Sadykov 2002). A Horn function is a particular series solution, whereas the Horn system is the differential-equation object and can have a multidimensional local solution space. At a nonsingular point, the dimension of this space is the holonomic rank when it is finite.

For a Horn-type power series with neighboring-coefficient ratios

 (A(m_1,...,m_i+1,...,m_r))/(A(m_1,...,m_i,...,m_r))=(g_i(m_1,...,m_r))/(h_i(m_1,...,m_r)),
(2)

the corresponding differential operators are, for i=1, ..., r,

 L_i=h_i(theta)1/(x_i)-g_i(theta),
(3)

and satisfy L_iF=0. When this is a holonomic system, it can be written as a first-order Pfaffian system

 dg=Omegag,
(4)

where Omega=sum_(i=1)^(r)Omega_idx_i, the components of g are F and finitely many of its derivatives, and the entries of the connection matrices Omega_i are rational functions. Restricting the system to a one-dimensional path gives an ordinary differential equation. Matching generalized power-series solutions by the Frobenius method along the path provides a numerical analytic continuation from a defining-series region (Banik and Bera 2026).


See also

Appell Hypergeometric Function, Holonomic Function, Holonomic Rank, Holonomic System, Horn Function, Lauricella Functions, Linear Partial Differential Equation, Partial Differential Equation, Pfaffian System

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References

Banik, S. and Bera, S. "HyperPrecision: A Mathematica Package for High-Precision Numerical Evaluation of Multivariate Hypergeometric Functions." May 28, 2026. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.30216.Sadykov, T. M. "On the Horn System of Partial Differential Equations and Series of Hypergeometric Type." Math. Scand. 91, 127-149, 2002. https://doi.org/10.7146/math.scand.a-14382.

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Horn System." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/HornSystem.html

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