Explicit Analytical Representations for the Schwarzschild Radial Equation via Hypergeometric and Frobenius Expansions

Abstract

The massive Klein-Gordon equation on the Schwarzschild exterior reduces to a radial differential equation of confluent-Heun type. We present its exact reduction by rigorously retaining a subleading centrifugal term that preserves the horizon indicial exponents but critically shifts the accessory parameters. Within the Svartholm--Schmidt hypergeometric-expansion framework, we derive the three-term recurrence relation and establish the corrected continued-fraction compatibility condition matching the minimal tail to the lower-end recurrence. Crucially, we demonstrate that the physical compactification coordinate $z=(r-1)/r$ shifts the irregular singular point to $z=1$, inherently transforming the hypergeometric expansion into a five-term recurrence that cannot degenerate to three terms. To circumvent this obstruction, we construct the horizon-normalized physical branch via a direct Frobenius series at $z=0$. This representation exhibits high-order convergence and near-precision-floor residuals against the exact radial ODE, while clarifying why quasinormal-mode spectral selection remains a connection problem at the irregular singular endpoint.