Quasi-orthogonality and zeros of some \({}_2 \phi_2\) and \({}_3 \phi_2\) polynomials (Q2175851)

A polynomial sequence \({R_n}_n\) (with \(\deg R_n=n\)) is quasi-orthogonal of order \(r<n\) with respect to the weight \(w(x)>0\) on \([a,b]\) if \[\int_{a}^{b} x^{k} R_{n}(x) w(x) d x\left\{\begin{array}{lll} =0 & \text { for } & k=0,1, \ldots, n-r-1 \\ \neq 0 & \text { for } & k=n-r \end{array}\right.\] Knowledge about the zeros of quasi-orthogonal polynomials is used in interpolation theory, quadrature and approximation theory; while algebraic and spectral properties of quasi-orthogonal polynomials are useful in some problems in the quantum theory of radiation.\\ The authors consider the quasi-orthogonality of some families of basic hypergeometric polynomials that do not appear in the \(q\)-Askey scheme of hypergeometric orthogonal polynomials. These are \begin{align*} \phi_{n}^{(k)}(z)&:={ }_{2} \phi_{2}\left(\begin{array}{c} q^{-n}, q^{\gamma+k} \\ q^{s+1}, q^{\gamma} ; q,-q^{n+\delta+1} z \end{array}\right),\\ \Phi_{n}^{(k)}(z)&:={ }_{3} \phi_{2}\left(\begin{array}{c} q^{-n}, q^{\gamma+k}, a b q^{n+1} \\ a q, q^{\gamma} \end{array} ; q, q z\right),\\ \varphi_{n}^{(k)}(z)&:={ }_{3} \phi_{2}\left(\begin{array}{c} q^{-n}, q^{\gamma+k}, q^{-z} \\ bq, q^{\gamma}\end{array} ; q,-\frac{q^{n+1}}{c}\right),\\ \Phi_{n}^{(k)}(z)&:={ }_{3} \phi_{2}\left(\begin{array}{c} q^{-n}, q^{\gamma+k}, z^{-1} \\ 0, q^{\gamma} \end{array} ; q, \frac{q z}{a}\right) \end{align*} For example, the following result is proven. Let \(n \in \mathbb{N}, k=1,2, \ldots, n-1, \delta, \gamma \in \mathbb{R}, \delta>-1\) and \(\gamma, \gamma+k \notin\{0,-1,-2, \ldots,-n\} .\) Then the polynomial \(\phi_{n}^{(k)}(z)\) is quasi-orthogonal of order k on \((0, \infty)\) with respect to the weight function \(\frac{z^{\delta}}{\left(-z q^{k} ; q\right)_{\infty}}\) and has at least \((n-k)\) distinct, real, positive zeros.