The Multiplicities of a Dual-thin $Q$-polynomial Association Scheme

Let $Y=(X, \{ R_i \}_{1\le i\le D})$ denote a symmetric association scheme, and assume that $Y$ is $Q$-polynomial with respect to an ordering $E_0,...,E_D$ of the primitive idempotents. Bannai and Ito conjectured that the associated sequence of multiplicities $m_i$ $(0 \leq i \leq D)$ of $Y$ is unimodal. Talking to Terwilliger, Stanton made the related conjecture that $m_i \leq m_{i+1}$ and $m_i \leq m_{D-i}$ for $i < D/2$. We prove that if $Y$ is dual-thin in the sense of Terwilliger, then the Stanton conjecture is true.