Factorization method and general second order linear difference equation (Q1728567)

The main aim of this paper is to investigate a factorization method for difference equations. It is proved that some classes of second-order linear difference operators, acting in Hilbert spaces, can be factorized using a pair of mutually adjoint first-order difference operators. These classes encompass equations of hypergeometric type describing classical orthogonal polynomials of a discrete variable. More precisely, the authors want to apply the factorization method to the second-order difference operators \(\mathbf{H}_k:\ell_{k}(\mathbb{Z},\mathbb{C})\to\ell_{k}(\mathbb{Z},\mathbb{C})\) given by \[ \mathbf{H}_{k}=z_{k}(n)\mathbf{S}^{+}+w_{k}(n)\mathbf{S}^{-}+v_{k}(n), \] where \(\left\{z_{k}\right\}\), \(\left\{w_{k}\right\}\) and \(\left\{v_{k}\right\}\) are real-valued sequences, \(k\in\mathbb{N}\cup\left\{0\right\}\) and \[ \mathbf{S}^{\pm}x(n)=x(n\pm 1). \] Introducing the annihilation operator \(\mathbf{A}_{k}:\ell_{k}(\mathbb{Z},\mathbb{C})\to \ell_{k-1}(\mathbb{Z},\mathbb{C})\) and the creation operator \(\mathbf{A}^{*}:\ell_{k-1}(\mathbb{Z},\mathbb{C})\to\ell_{k}(\mathbb{Z},\mathbb{C})\) (also called lowering and raising operators, respectively), the authors rewrite the operators \(\mathbf{H}_{k}\) in the form \[ \mathbf{H}_{k} = \mathbf{A}^{*}_{k} \mathbf{A}_{k} + \alpha_{k} = \mathbf{A}_{k+1} \mathbf{A}^{*}_{k+1} + \alpha_{k+1}, \] where \(\alpha_{k}\) are real constants. For the entire collection see [Zbl 1398.35005].