Tridiagonal pairs of $q$-Racah type and the $\mu$-conjecture

Let $\K$ denote a field and let $V$ denote a vector space over $\K$ with finite positive dimension. We consider a pair of linear transformations $A:V \to V$ and $A^*:V \to V$ that satisfy the following conditions: (i) each of $A,A^*$ is diagonalizable; (ii) there exists an ordering $\lbrace V_i\rbrace_{i=0}^d$ of the eigenspaces of $A$ such that $A^* V_i \subseteq V_{i-1} + V_{i} + V_{i+1}$ for $0 \leq i \leq d$, where $V_{-1}=0$ and $V_{d+1}=0$; (iii) there exists an ordering $\lbrace V^*_i\rbrace_{i=0}^\delta$ of the eigenspaces of $A^*$ such that $A V^*_i \subseteq V^*_{i-1} + V^*_{i} + V^*_{i+1}$ for $0 \leq i \leq \delta$, where $V^*_{-1}=0$ and $V^*_{\delta+1}=0$; (iv) there is no subspace $W$ of $V$ such that $AW \subseteq W$, $A^* W \subseteq W$, $W \neq 0$, $W \neq V$. We call such a pair a {\it tridiagonal pair} on $V$. It is known that $d=\delta$ and for $0 \leq i \leq d$ the dimensions of $V_i$, $V_{d-i}$, $V^*_i$, $V^*_{d-i}$ coincide. We say the pair $A,A^*$ is {\it sharp} whenever $\dim V_0=1$. It is known that if $\K$ is algebraically closed then $A,A^*$ is sharp. A conjectured classification of the sharp tridiagonal pairs was recently introduced by T. Ito and the second author. Shortly afterwards we introduced a conjecture, called the {\em $\mu$-conjecture}, which implies the classification conjecture. In this paper we show that the $\mu$-conjecture holds in a special case called $q$-Racah.