Macdonald difference operators and Harish-Chandra series

We analyse the centralizer of the Macdonald difference operator in an appropriate algebra of Weyl group invariant difference operators. We show that it coincides with Cherednik's commuting algebra of difference operators via an analog of the Harish-Chandra isomorphism. Analogs of Harish-Chandra series are defined and realized as solutions to the system of basic hypergeometric difference equations associated to the centralizer algebra. These Harish-Chandra series are then related to both Macdonald polynomials and Chalykh's Baker–Akhiezer functions.