Linear transformations that are tridiagonal with respect to both eigenbases of a Leonard pair (Q865461)

Let \(V\) denote a finite-dimensional vector space with positive dimension over any field \(\dim V=d+1<0\). A Leonard pair \((A, A^*)\) is a pair of linear transformations \(A: V\to V\) and \(A^*: V\to V\) with the following properties: (i) There exists a basis of \(V\) such that the matrices of \(A\) and \(A^*\) with respect to this basis are irreducible tridiagonal and diagonal, respectively. (ii) There exists a basis of \(V\) such that the matrices of \(A^*\) and \(A\) with respect to this basis are irreducible tridiagonal and diagonal, respectively. The authors consider the set \(\mathcal X\) of all linear transformations \(X: V\to V\) such that the two matrices of \(X\) with respect to the bases appearing in (i) and (ii) are both tridiagonal. It is shown that \(\mathcal X\) is spanned by \(I\), \(A\), \(A^*\), \(AA^*\), and \(A^*A\). If the dimension of \(V\) is at least \(3\) then these matrices even form a basis for \(\mathcal X\).