Quantum Hilbert matrices and orthogonal polynomials (Q1035621)

The so called Hilbert matrices \[ {\mathcal H}_n=\left({1\over \ell+j+1}\right),\qquad 0\leq\ell, j\leq n,\;n=0,1,\dots \] and Filbert matrices \[ {\mathcal F}_n=\left({1\over F_{\ell+j+1}}\right),\qquad 0\leq\ell,j\leq n,\;n=0,1,\dots \] with \(F_n,\;n\geq 0\), the sequence of Fibonacci numbers, have the property that their inverse matrices have integer entries. As the Hilbert matrices can be seen as Hankel matrices of a moment sequence, several directions of generalization can be considered. The purpose of the paper is to study generalized Hilbert and Filbert matrices with the aid of so called `quantum integers' defined by \[ [n]_q={q^{n/2}-q^{-n/2}\over q^{1/2}-q^{-1/2}},\qquad n=0,1,\dots \] where \(q\in\mathbb C\setminus\{0\}\) with an appropriate choice for the branch of \(q^{1/2}\) in the cut complex plane. These numbers are connected with basic hypergeometric functions and basic orthogonal polynomials. Introduce the (`generalized' for \(\alpha\not=1\)) quantum Hilbert matrix by \[ {\mathcal H}^{\alpha}(q)=\left({[\alpha]_q\over [\ell+j+\alpha]_q}\right),\qquad 0\leq\ell,j\leq n,\;n=0,1,\dots \] (\(\alpha\) is an integer). These matrices are well defined for non-zero complex numbers \(q\) which are not roots of unity of order \(\leq 2n+\alpha\) and are connected with the little \(q\)-Jacobi polynomials. The authors then prove that the inverses of the generalized quantum Hilbert matrices have quantum integers as entries and also treat the case where \(q=e^{-2\theta}\), \(\theta>0\), leading to a generalized Filbert matrix also having an inverse with quantum integer entries.