Matrix valued orthogonal polynomials of Jacobi type: the role of group representation theory. (Q2574198)

The motivation of this paper is the construction of explicit examples of families of matrix valued orthogonal polynomials. Such families can be derived from classical pairs \(\{W, D\}\) where \(W=W(t)\) is a selfadjoint positive definite matrix valued smooth function with finite moments; \(D\) is a second order differential operator with matrix valued polynomial coefficients; and \(D\) is compatible with a skew-symmetric bilinear matrix valued product defined on matrix valued functions and induced by \(W\). In particular, the purpose of this paper is to provide explicit examples of classical pairs of Jacobi type, that is, pairs in which the differential operator \(D\) is of hypergeometric type. The authors present a construction which is based on the representation theory of the symmetric space \(G/K\) with \(G=\text{SU}(n+1)\) and \(K=S(U(n)\times U(1))\cong U(n)\). The differential operator \(D\) is derived from the Casimir operator of \(G\) and the weight function \(W\) is derived from the dimensions of the \(\text{GL}(n-1,C)\)-irreducible components of a fixed irreducible \(\text{GL}(n,C)\)-module. Under this correspondence the number of \(\text{GL}(n-1,C)\)-irreducible components determines the size of the matrix values of the functions involved. The pairs corresponding to the \(\text{GL}(n,C)\)-modules associated with the partitions \(((m+2)^k,m^{n-k})\) and \(((m+2)^{k}, (m+1)^{l-k}, m^{n-l})\) are computed explicitely and they give rise to matrix valued orthogonal polynomials of size \(3\) and \(4\), respectively.