Sheffer sequences with zeros on a line

Abstract

We extend a result of Bump et al. to show that a large family of Sheffer sequences has their zeros - up to perhaps a finite number of exceptions - on a vertical line. We connect a particular such sequence to the Riemann zeta function via a product representation of a scaled Mellin transform, analogously to the product decomposition of a Mellin transform involving the generalized Laguerre polynomials into factors of the Gamma function and Meixner polynomials.