On a Family of Integrals that extend the Askey-Wilson Integral

TL;DR

This paper introduces a family of integrals extending the Askey-Wilson integral, characterizing them via $q$-difference equations and expressing their evaluations through hypergeometric functions and Jackson integrals.

Contribution

It generalizes the Askey-Wilson integral to higher N, providing new $q$-difference equations and explicit evaluation formulas.

Findings

Integrals are characterized by $(N-1)$-th order linear $q$-difference equations.

Explicit evaluation as finite sums of Jackson integrals or hypergeometric functions.

Extension of the Askey-Wilson integral family to arbitrary N.

Abstract

We study a family of integrals parameterised by $ N = 2,3,\dots $ generalising the Askey-Wilson integral $ N=2 $ which has arisen in the theory of $q$-analogs of monodromy preserving deformations of linear differential systems and in theory of the Baxter $Q$ operator for the $ XXZ $ open quantum spin chain. These integrals are particular examples of moments defined by weights generalising the Askey-Wilson weight and we show the integrals are characterised by various $ (N-1) $-th order linear $q$-difference equations which we construct. In addition we demonstrate that these integrals can be evaluated as a finite sum of $ (N-1) $ $ BC_{1} $-type Jackson integrals or $ {}_{2N+2}\varphi_{2N+1} $ basic hypergeometric functions.