Explicit matrix inverses for lower triangular matrices with entries involving continuous \(q\)-ultraspherical polynomials (Q496567)

The main result of the paper is that the doubly infinite lower triangular matrix \(L^{\beta}(x)\) defined by \[ L^{\beta}(x)_{m,n}=\frac{1}{(\beta^2q^{2n};q)_{m-n}}C_{m-n}(x;\beta q^n|q),\quad m\geq n, \] where \(C_m(x;\beta|q)\) denotes the continuous \(q\)-ultraspherical polynomial of degree \(m\) is invertible and has inverse \(M^{\beta}(x)\) given by \[ M^{\beta}(x)_{m,n}=\frac{(\beta^{m-n}q^{(m-1)(m-n)}}{(\beta^2q^{m+n-1};q)_{m-n}}C_{m-n}(x;\beta^{-1}q^{1-m}|q),\quad m\geq n. \] A similar result holds for finite lower triangular matrices with the same entries. The proof is based on the orthogonality relation for the \(q\)-Racah polynomials. It is shown that the limit \(q\rightarrow 1\) leads to the special case \(\alpha=\beta\) of theorem~4.1 in [\textit{L. Cagliero} and \textit{T. H. Koornwinder}, J. Approx. Theory 193, 20--38 (2015; Zbl 1318.33013)]. Furthermore, the special case \(\beta\rightarrow 0\) leads to a similar result involving continuous \(q\)-Hermite polynomials.