Dual addition formulas: the case of continuous $q$-ultraspherical and $q$-Hermite polynomials

Abstract: We settle the dual addition formula for continuous $q$-ultraspherical polynomials as an expansion in terms of special $q$-Racah polynomials for which the constant term is given by the linearization formula for the continuous $q$-ultraspherical polynomials. In a second proof we derive the dual addition formula from the Rahman--Verma addition formula for these polynomials by using the self-duality of the polynomials. We also consider the limit case of continuous $q$-Hermite polynomials.