Orthogonality of \(q\)-polynomials for non-standard parameters (Q719363)

The paper presents a general tool, which provides a non-standard orthogonality property for any sequence of orthogonal polynomials \(\{p_n\}\) with some vanishing coefficient \(\gamma_n\) in the three-term recurrence relation: \[ xp_n= p_{n+1} + \beta_n p_n + \gamma_n p_{n-1},\quad n \geq 0. \] The tool is a degenerate version of the Favard theorem, and it is applied to obtain the orthogonality of \(q\)-polynomials for non-standard parameters. Indeed, orthogonality for the Askey-Wilson polynomials \(p_n(x;a,b,c,d;q)\) is known only when the product of any two parameters \(a,b,c,d\) is not a negative integer power of \(q\), and the orthogonality of the big \(q\)-Jacobi polynomials \(p_n(x;a,b,c;q)\) is known when not any of the numbers \(a,b,c,abc^{-1}\) is a negative integer power of \(q\). With the help of the technique mentioned before, the orthogonality properties of the Askey-Wilson and big \(q\)-Jacobi polynomials for almost all values of the parameters are obtained. Finally, the results are also applied to derive non-standard orthogonality properties for continuous dual \(q\)-Hahn, big \(q\)-Laguerre, \(q\)-Meixner and little \(q\)-Jacobi polynomials for non-classical parameters.