The affine group and generalized Gegenbauer polynomials (Q5948779)

Let \((\xi_1,\xi_2)\) denote a basis of the Lie algebra \(\mathbb{L}\) of the affine group with commutator relation \([\xi_1,\xi_2] =\xi_2\). Representing \(\mathbb{L}\) by the action on polynomials leads to the investigation of operators of the following type: Put \(\xi_1= x\cdot D+\alpha\) (for some constant \(\alpha)\), i.e. \(\xi_1x^n= (n+\alpha) x^n\), and \(\xi_2=L\) defined by \(Lx^n=b_n x^{n-1}\), \(b_n\neq 0\). We fix \((b_n)\) and put \(\gamma_n:= b_n\dots b_1\). The authors consider operators \(H=f(\xi_1)- g(\xi_2)\) with \(g(\xi_2)= L^p\) and (mostly) \(f(n)=(n+ \alpha)^2\). These are generators of a Brownian motion if \(p=2\), \(f(x)=x^2\). The eigenfunction expansion of these operators leads to ``generalized Gegenbauer polynomials'' \(\widetilde C_n^{f,L} (\cdot)\) (depending on \(f\) and \(L)\), which reduce to the classical Gegenbauer polynomials in the case of Brownian motion. The authors calculate recurrence relations and inversions for these polynomials, furthermore moments and generating functions with respect to measures \(\mu\) with \(\int \widetilde C_n^{f,L} d\mu=0\). Consider the parametrization of the affine group \(g(A,B)= \exp(A\times D)\exp (BL)\) and, in a similar way, \(\widetilde g(A,B)= \exp(A\times D)e(BL)\), where \(e(x): =\sum^\infty_1 x^n/ \gamma^n\) denotes the ``generalized exponential function'' (corresponding to the sequence \((b_n))\). Again the authors calculate the coefficients of \(g(A,B)\), \(\widetilde g(A,B)\) with respect to the basis of the Gegenbauer polynomials and obtain (in 5.2) -- for \(f(n)= (n+\alpha)^2\) -- a characterization of the sequences \((b_n)\) admitting a measure \(\mu\) such that \((\widetilde C_n^{f,L})\) are orthogonal with respect to \(\mu\). The relations to Appel systems are pointed out in Section 6.