Tight distance-regular graphs and the subconstituent algebra (Q1864593)

A distance-regular graph \(\Gamma\) with diameter \(D\geq 3\) and eigenvalues \(\theta_0>\cdots>\theta_D\) is considered. Let \(X\) denote the vertex set of \(\Gamma\) and let \(x\in X\). Let \(T=T(x)\) denote the subalgebra of \(\text{Mat}_X(\mathbb{C})\) generated by \(A,E_0^*,\dots ,E_D^*\), where \(A\) is the adjacency matrix of \(\Gamma\) and \(E_i^*\) is the projection onto the \(i\)th subconstituent of \(\Gamma\) with respect to \(x\). \(T\) is called the Terwilliger algebra of \(\Gamma\) with respect to \(x\). An irreducible \(T\)-module \(W\) is thin whenever \(\dim E_i^*W\leq 1\) for \(0\leq i\leq D\). The endpoint of \(W\) is min\(\{i\mid E_i^*W\neq 0\}\). In this paper the thin irreducible \(T\)-modules with endpoint 1 are described. Let \(W\) be a thin irreducible \(T\)-module with endpoint 1. Then \(E_1^*W\) is a one-dimensional eigenspace for \(E_1^*AE_1^*\). Let \(v\) denote a nonzero vector in \(E_1^*W\), \(\eta\) denote the corresponding eigenvalue and let \(\widetilde \theta_i=-1-b_1(1+\theta_i)^{-1}\). Then \(\widetilde \theta_1\leq \eta\leq \widetilde \theta_D\); the cases \(\widetilde \theta_1<\eta<\widetilde \theta_D\) were consider by \textit{P. Terwilliger} [Linear Algebra Appl. 356, 157-187 (2002)]. In this paper the extremal cases \(\eta=\widetilde \theta_1\) and \(\eta=\widetilde \theta_D\) are investigated. Let \(n=1\) or \(n=D\) and assume that \(\eta=\widetilde \theta_n\). Then the module \(W\) has two orthogonal bases \(E_iv\) \((1\leq i\leq D\), \(i\neq n)\), where \(E_i\) denotes the primitive idempotent of \(A\) associated with \(\theta_i\), and \(E_{i+1}^*A_iv\) \((0\leq i\leq D-2)\) (Theorems 10.1 and 10.3). The matrix representing \(A\) with respect to the last basis and the transition matrix relating this two bases for \(W\) are calculated.