Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 17, 2026

Q-Hahn polynomials

In mathematics, the q-Hahn polynomials are a family of basic hypergeometric orthogonal polynomials in the basic Askey scheme. Roelof Koekoek, Peter A. Lesky, and René F. Swarttouw give a detailed list of their properties.

Last revised
Jul 17, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
341 w
Citations
Source

In mathematics, the q-Hahn polynomials are a family of basic hypergeometric orthogonal polynomials in the basic Askey scheme. Roelof Koekoek, Peter A. Lesky, and René F. Swarttouw (2010, 14) give a detailed list of their properties.

Definition

The polynomials are given in terms of basic hypergeometric functions by

Q n ( q x ; a , b , N ; q ) = 3 ϕ 2 [ q n , a b q n + 1 , q x a q , q N ; q , q ] . {\displaystyle Q_{n}(q^{-x};a,b,N;q)={}_{3}\phi _{2}\left[{\begin{matrix}q^{-n},abq^{n+1},q^{-x}\\aq,q^{-N}\end{matrix}};q,q\right].}

Relation to other polynomials

q-Hahn polynomials→ Quantum q-Krawtchouk polynomials

lim a Q n ( q x ; a ; p , N | q ) = K n q t m ( q x ; p , N ; q ) {\displaystyle \lim _{a\to \infty }Q_{n}(q^{-x};a;p,N|q)=K_{n}^{qtm}(q^{-x};p,N;q)}

q-Hahn polynomials→ Hahn polynomials

make the substitution α = q α {\displaystyle \alpha =q^{\alpha }} , β = q β {\displaystyle \beta =q^{\beta }} into definition of q-Hahn polynomials, and find the limit q→1, we obtain

3 F 2 ( n , α + β + n + 1 , x , α + 1 , N , 1 ) {\displaystyle {}_{3}F_{2}(-n,\alpha +\beta +n+1,-x,\alpha +1,-N,1)} ,which is exactly Hahn polynomials.
References

References