A question by T. S. Chihara about shell polynomials and indeterminate moment problems (Q719501)

The authors consider the generalized Stieltjes-Wigert polynomials depending on parameters \(0\leq p<1\) and \(0<q<1\). By removing the mass at zero of an \(N\)-extremal solution concentrated in the zeros of the \(D\)-function from the Nevanlinna parametrization, the authors obtain a discrete measure \(\mu^{M}\), which is uniquely determined by its moments. They calculate the coefficients of the corresponding orthonormal polynomials \((P_{n}^{M})\). As noticed by Chihara, these polynomials are the shell polynomials corresponding to the maximal parameter sequence for a certain chain sequence. The authors also find the minimal parameter sequence, as well as the parameter sequence corresponding to the generalized Stieltjes-Wigert polynomials, and compute the value of related continued fractions. In the special case of \(p=q\), the maximal parameter sequence is constant and the determination of \(\mu^{M}\) and \((P_{n}^{M})\) gives an answer to a question posed by Chihara in the open problems session of the Fifth International Symposium on Orthogonal Polynomials and Special Functions and their Applications, held in Patras, Greece, in September 1999.