English

Rational function approximations of the special function $e^{x}E_{1}(x)$ and applications to irrationality of Euler-Gompertz constant $\delta$

Number Theory 2024-09-24 v2

Abstract

In \cite{d4}, we gave a method to construct a continued fraction of the function F(x):=exE1(x)F(x):=e^{x}E_{1}(x). More precisely we define F1(x)F_{1}(x) as the reciprocal of F(x)F(x) and we inductively define Fm(x)F_{m}(x) as the reciprocal of ``Fm1(x)F_{m-1}(x) minus the main term of Fm1(x)F_{m-1}(x) at infinity''. We calculated the main term of Fm(x)F_{m}(x) at infinity by using \cite[Proposition 2.1]{d4}. This method is analogous to the regular continued fraction expansion of real numbers. \\ \ \ \ \ In this paper we prove that the continued fraction converges to F(x)F(x) for any positive real number x>0x>0 by following the proof of that the regular continued fraction of a positive and irrational real number α\alpha converges to α\alpha. Essentially we prove inequalities for Qm(x)Q_{m}(x) (in Theorem 4.1) and inequalities Fm(x)>0F_{m}(x)>0 (in Section 5). In particular, we prove stronger inequalities P2k(x)Q2k(x)<F(x)<P2k1(x)Q2k1(x)\displaystyle\frac{P_{2k}(x)}{Q_{2k}(x)}<F(x)<\displaystyle\frac{P_{2k-1}(x)}{Q_{2k-1}(x)} (than Fm(x)>0F_{m}(x)>0) and give two proofs of these. In Section 6, we show an asymptotic relation between Q2k(x)Q_{2k}(x) and Q2k1(x)Q_{2k-1}(x) by using properties of the classical Laguerre polynomial. In Section 7, we consider Euler-Gompertz constant δ\delta. As far as we know, irrationality of δ\delta is still an open problem. We construct a sequence of rationals AiBi (i=1,2,3,)\displaystyle\frac{A_{i}}{B_{i}}\ (i=1,2,3,\cdots) such that δBiAi\delta B_{i}-A_{i} approaches 0 as ii approaches infinity and give a sufficient condition of that δBiAi0\delta B_{i}-A_{i}\neq 0 for any positive integer ii. Therefore, if it is proved that this condition holds, it completes a proof of irrationality of Euler-Gompertz constant δ\delta.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2210.06768,
  title  = {Rational function approximations of the special function $e^{x}E_{1}(x)$ and applications to irrationality of Euler-Gompertz constant $\delta$},
  author = {Naoki Murabayashi and Hayato Yoshida},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2210.06768},
  year   = {2024}
}