Orthogonal polynomials for a quartic birth and death process (Q1318421)

For a birth-and-death process on the non-negative integers the representation theorem of Karlin and McGregor shows that the transition probabilities may be expressed as \[ P_{ij}(t)= \int^ \infty_ 0 F_ i(x) F_ j(x) e^{-tx} d\mu(x)/\pi_ i \] for polynomials \(F_ i(x)\) orthogonal with respect to the measure \(\mu\), where \(\pi_ i\) is the usual invariant measure. When the birth and death rates \(\lambda_ n\) and \(\mu_ n\) are polynomials in \(n\), there are only a few situations where explicit forms for the representation are known and these include linear and quadratic cases. Explicit forms were found recently for some cubic and quartic examples; the background to these results is reviewed.