When are referential joins executed in analytical views?

Referential joins in analytical views are executed when fields from both tables involved in the join are requested. This means that the query optimization process recognizes the need to combine data from the two tables to fulfill the request for specific fields. When fields from both tables are part of the SELECT statement, the HANA database engine utilizes the referential join to efficiently combine and return the relevant data.

In the context of querying, if only fields from one table are requested, there would be no need to execute the join, as all necessary data can be retrieved from that single table. This keeps the query execution efficient by avoiding unnecessary operations. Hence, option A correctly reflects the functionality of referential joins during the execution of analytical views.