A new \(A_n\) extension of Ramanujan's \(_1\psi_1\) summation with applications to multilateral \(A_n\) series. (Q1415047)

This paper proves several new identities for multilateral basic hypergeometric series associated with the root system \(A_n\) (or, equivalently, associated with the group \(U(n+1)\)). Applying an argument of analytic continuation to an \(A_n\) \(q\)-binomial theorem of Milne, the authors derive an \(A_n\) extension of Ramanujan's \(_1\psi_1\) summation theorem. Together with a \(_1\psi_1\) summation of Gustafson, this \(A_n\) \(_1\psi_1\) summation is used to prove two lemmas which provide an efficient method for deriving multilateral series identities in \(A_n\) from identities of the classical one-dimensional theory. The lemmas are shown to be related to Macdonald identities for \(A_n\). As examples of application of their method, the authors obtain several \(A_n\) extensions of Bailey's \(_2\psi_2\) transformation formulas as well as many \(A_n\) extensions of a specific \(_2\psi_2\) summation.