Askey--Wilson polynomials with ASEP parameters

Abstract

Koornwinder moments generalize the Askey--Wilson moments arising in the asymmetric simple exclusion process. Rains conjectured that, under the specialization $t=q$, the minimal numerators of Koornwinder moments have nonnegative integer coefficients. While the one-row case of this conjecture was previously proved by Corteel, Mandelshtam, and Williams using rhombic staircase tableaux, its dual counterpart, the one-column case, has remained open. In this paper, we derive a closed, manifestly positive combinatorial formula for the normalized numerators of the coefficients of the rescaled Askey--Wilson polynomials. This proves Rains' conjecture for one-column partitions, thereby providing the exact dual counterpart to the previous result.