Associated Legendre functions and spherical harmonics of fractional degree and order (Q1615924)

The purpose of this article is to study the octahedral function \(r_n^m(u),\;n,m\in\mathbb{Z} \), the Frobenius solution associated with the zero characteristic exponent of the singular point \(u=0\) of a certain Fuchsian differential equation. The five singular points of \(r_n^m(u)\) are illustrated by a generalization of the Riemann \(P\) symbol. These octahedral functions are generalized Heun polynomials, and not orthogonal polynomials in the conventional sense. Certain three-term nondifferential recurrences are analogous to the contiguity relations of the Gauss hypergeometric series. Certain special cases of \(n\) and \(m\) give rise to Heun polynomials and hypergeometric functions. The biorthogonality of these functions is manifested by the domain of the lifted functions, which is an octahedron inscribed in the Riemann \(s\)-sphere. This biorthogonality can be expressed in terms of the Ferrers' function or the associated Legendre function. Finally, recurrences for the Ferrers' function and the corresponding Lie Algebra representations are explored.