Zeros and orthogonality of the Askey-Wilson polynomials for \(q\) a root of unity (Q1366694)

A set of polynomials \(\{P_n(x)\}\) satisfying a three-term recurrence relation \[ xP_n(x)=P_{n+1}(x)+b_nP_n(x)+u_nP_{n-1}(x),\quad n=1,2,3,\ldots \] with initial conditions \(P_0(x)=1\) and \(P_1(x)=x-b_0\), with \(\{b_n\}\) and \(\{u_n\}\) arbitrary complex sequences is orthogonal with respect to some complex measure \(\mu(x)\), moreover \[ \int_C P_m(x)P_n(x)d\mu(x)=h_n\delta_{mn}, \] where \(h_n=u_1u_2\cdots u_n\) and \(C\) is some contour in the complex plane. When \(\{b_n\}\) are real and \(\{u_n\}\) are all positive, the measure can be chosen to be real-valued and nondecreasing (then \(C\) is the real line). In these cases it can be shown that all zeros \(x_s, s=0,1,2,\ldots,N-1\) of any polynomial \(P_N(x)\) are real and simple. Moreover, these zeros can be used to construct a discrete orthogonality relation of the form \[ \sum_{s=0}^{N-1}P_m(x_s)P_n(x_s)w_s=h_n\delta_{mn},\quad m,n=0,1,2,\ldots,N-1, \] with weight function \[ w_s=\frac{h_{N-1}}{P_{N-1}(x_s)P_N'(x_s)}. \] In this paper the authors study this discrete orthogonality property for the Askey-Wilson polynomials in case that \(q\) is a root of unity, id est \[ q=\exp(2\pi iM/N), \] where \(M\) and \(N\) are mutually coprime positive integers with \(M<N\). In this case the authors first study the zeros of the \(N\)th Askey-Wilson polynomial and then construct the weight function for the above mentioned discrete orthogonality relation. Further they derive a difference equation for these generic Askey-Wilson polynomials and they show that the self-duality property does not longer hold in this case. Finally they study this discrete orthogonality for some special values of the parameters, such as the case of the continuous \(q\)-Jacobi polynomials and the big \(q\)-Jacobi polynomials, in more details.