For functions in $C^k(\mathbb {R})$ which commute with a translation, we prove a theorem on approximation by entire functions which commute with the same translation, with a requirement that the values of the entire function and its derivatives on a specified countable set belong to specified dense sets. Using this theorem, we show that if A and B are countable dense subsets of the unit circle $T\subseteq \mathbb {C}$ with $1\notin A$ , $1\notin B$ , then there is an analytic function $h\colon \mathbb {C}\setminus \{0\}\to \mathbb {C}$ that restricts to an order isomorphism of the arc $T\setminus \{1\}$ onto itself and satisfies $h(A)=B$ and $h'(z)\not =0$ when $z\in T$ . This answers a question of P. M. Gauthier.

In the work presented below the classical subject of orthogonal polynomials on the unit circle is discussed in the matrix setting. An explicit matrix representation of the matrix valued orthogonal polynomials in terms of the moments of the measure is presented. Classical recurrence relations are revisited using the matrix representation of the polynomials. The matrix expressions for the kernel polynomials and the Christoffel–Darboux formulas are presented for the first time.