Bargmann and Barut-Girardello models for the Racah algebra

The Racah algebra and its higher rank extension are the algebras underlying the univariate and multivariate Racah polynomials. In this paper we develop two new models in which the Racah algebra naturally arises as symmetry algebra, namely the Bargmann model and the Barut-Girardello model. We show how both models are connected with the superintegrable model of Miller et al. The Bargmann model moreover leads to a new realization of the Racah algebra of rank $n$ as $n$-variable differential operators. Our conceptual approach also allows us to rederive the basis functions of the superintegrable model without resorting to separation of variables.