Matrix orthogonal polynomials satisfying second-order differential equations: coping without help from group representation theory (Q2456670)

The authors [Int. Math. Res. Not. 2004, No.~10, 461--484 (2004; Zbl 1073.33009)] considered earlier three types of matrix weight functions in which the basic building block is a matrix \(T\) satisfying one of \[ T'=(2Bt+A)T,\;T(0)=I, \] \[ T'=(A+B/t)T,\;T(1)=I, \] \[ T'=(A/t+B/(1-t))T,\;T({1\over 2})=I. \] The matrices \(A,B\) were (in general) non-commuting matrices on which -- to find situations where the orthogonal polynomials satisfy second order differential equations -- conditions were imposed upon. The third case given above was `automatically' solved using group representation theory [\textit{F. A. Grünbaum} et al. [Ann. Inst. Fourier, 55, No.~6, 2051--2068 (2005; Zbl 1082.33006)], and the paper under review covers the other two cases using a direct approach to certain differential equations covered in the paper by by the authors mentioned above. The main focus in the paper under review is the case where the weight matrix factors into \[ W(t)=\rho(t)T(t)T^{\ast}(t) \] for the scalar functions \[ \rho(t)=e^{-t^2}\;\text{and}\;\rho(t)=t^{\alpha}e^{-t}, \] and all examples given are of size \(2\times 2\). The results cover matrix Rodrigues' formulas and three term recurrence relations.