Symmetry techniques for q-series: Askey-Wilson polynomials (Q909843)

The Askey-Wilson polynomials are in a certain sense the most general classical orthogonal polynomials of one variable. The defining formula is \[ p_ n(\cos \theta;a,b,c,d| q)= \] \[ =\prod^{n-1}_{j=0}((1- abq^ j)(1-acq^ j)(1-adq^ j))a^{-n}\cdot_ 4\phi_ 3\left( \begin{matrix} q^{-n},abcdq^{n-1},ae^{i\theta},ae^{-i\theta};q,q\\ ab,ac,ad\end{matrix} \right) \] (this is a basic hypergeometric series, the parameters satisfy a,b,c,d,q\(\in {\mathbb{R}}\), and \(| a|,| b|,| c|,| d|,| q| <1).\) \textit{R. Askey} and \textit{J. Wilson} established the fundamental results, such as the weight function, recurrence coefficients, and \(L^ 2\)-norms in Mem. Am. Math. Soc. 319, 1-55 (1985; Zbl 0572.33012). In the present paper, Kalnins and Miller give a self-contained derivation of these formulas. The method is based on a (purely algebraic) q-difference operator which has each \(p_ n\) as an eigenfunction. It is shown how the goal of constructing a Hilbert space structure of functions on the unit circle for which this operator is selfadjoint, leads plausibly to the weight function. It also leads to recursion formulas allowing the determination of associated integrals and \(L^ 2\)-norms from some simple known results.