Totally bipartite tridiagonal pairs

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Kazumasa Nomura
Paul Terwilliger

Abstract

There is a concept in linear algebra called a tridiagonal pair. The concept was motivated by the theory of $Q$-polynomial distance-regular graphs. We give a tutorial introduction to tridiagonal pairs, working with a special case as a concrete example. The special case is called totally bipartite (TB). Starting from first principles, we give an elementary but comprehensive account of TB tridiagonal pairs. The following topics are discussed: (i) the notion of a TB tridiagonal system; (ii) the eigenvalue array; (iii) the standard basis and matrix representations; (iv) the intersection numbers; (v) the Askey--Wilson relations; (vi) a recurrence involving the eigenvalue array; (vii) the classification of TB tridiagonal systems; (viii) self-dual TB tridiagonal pairs and systems; (ix) the $\mathbb{Z}_3$-symmetric Askey--Wilson relations; (x) some automorphisms and antiautomorphisms associated with a TB tridiagonal pair; and (xi) an action of the modular group ${\rm PSL}_2(\mathbb{Z})$ associated with a TB tridiagonal pair.

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