English

Hankel continued fraction and its applications

Number Theory 2014-06-09 v1 Combinatorics

Abstract

The Hankel determinants of a given power series ff can be evaluated by using the Jacobi continued fraction expansion of ff. However the existence of the Jacobi continued fraction needs that all Hankel determinants of ff are nonzero. We introduce {\it Hankel continued fraction}, whose existene and unicity are guaranteed without any condition for the power series ff. The Hankel determinants can also be evaluated by using the Hankel continued fraction. It is well known that the continued fraction expansion of a quadratic irrational number is ultimately periodic. We prove a similar result for power series. If a power series ff over a finite field satisfies a quadratic functional equation, then the Hankel continued fraction is ultimately periodic. As an application, we derive the Hankel determinants of several automatic sequences, in particular, the regular paperfolding sequence. Thus we provide an automatic proof of a result obtained by Guo, Wu and Wen, which was conjectured by Coons-Vrbik.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1406.1593,
  title  = {Hankel continued fraction and its applications},
  author = {Guo-Niu Han},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1406.1593},
  year   = {2014}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T04:32:20.488Z