Chebyshev polynomials on a Jordan arc

Abstract

We describe the asymptotics of Chebyshev polynomials on an analytic Jordan arc in the plane. This gives an affirmative answer to a conjecture of Christiansen-Simon-Zinchenko, based on predictions of Widom from 1969. The proof combines weighted Faber polynomials with extremal signatures, discrete orthogonal polynomials and a Marcinkiewicz-Zygmund sampling inequality, and yields Szegő-Widom asymptotics for the Chebyshev polynomials themselves.