English

Stirling-Ramanujan constants are exponential periods

Number Theory 2024-09-27 v3 Mathematical Physics Classical Analysis and ODEs Complex Variables math.MP

Abstract

Ramanujan studied a general class of Stirling constants that are the resummation of some natural divergent series. These constants include the classical Euler-Mascheroni, Stirling and Glaisher-Kinkelin constants. We find natural integral representations for all these constants that appear as exponential periods in the field Q(t,et)\mathbb Q (t,e^{-t}) which reveals their natural transalgebraic nature. We conjecture that all these constants are transcendental numbers. Euler-Mascheroni's and Stirling's integral formula are classical, but the integral formula for Glaisher-Kinkelin appears to be new, as well as the integral formulas for the higher Stirling-Ramanujan constants. The method presented generalizes naturally to prove that many other constants are exponential periods over the field Q(t,et)\mathbb Q(t,e^{-t}).

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2402.02660,
  title  = {Stirling-Ramanujan constants are exponential periods},
  author = {Vicente Muñoz and Ricardo Perez-Marco},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2402.02660},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

20 pages. Final published version

R2 v1 2026-06-28T14:37:59.577Z