English

Zeta Functions and the Log-behavior of Combinatorial Sequences

Combinatorics 2013-09-30 v3 Number Theory

Abstract

In this paper, we use the Riemann zeta function ζ(x)\zeta(x) and the Bessel zeta function ζμ(x)\zeta_{\mu}(x) to study the log-behavior of combinatorial sequences. We prove that ζ(x)\zeta(x) is log-convex for x>1x>1. As a consequence, we deduce that the sequence {B2n/(2n)!}n1\{|B_{2n}|/(2n)!\}_{n\geq 1} is log-convex, where BnB_n is the nn-th Bernoulli number. We introduce the function θ(x)=(2ζ(x)Γ(x+1))1x\theta(x)=(2\zeta(x)\Gamma(x+1))^{\frac{1}{x}}, where Γ(x)\Gamma(x) is the gamma function, and we show that logθ(x)\log \theta(x) is strictly increasing for x6x\geq 6. This confirms a conjecture of Sun stating that the sequence {B2nn}n1\{\sqrt[n] {|B_{2n}}|\}_{n\geq 1} is strictly increasing. Amdeberhan, Moll and Vignat defined the numbers an(μ)=22n+1(n+1)!(μ+1)nζμ(2n)a_n(\mu)=2^{2n+1}(n+1)!(\mu+1)_n\zeta_{\mu}(2n) and conjectured that the sequence {an(μ)}n1\{a_n(\mu)\}_{n\geq 1} is log-convex for μ=0\mu=0 and μ=1\mu=1. By proving that ζμ(x)\zeta_{\mu}(x) is log-convex for x>1x>1 and μ>1\mu>-1, we show that the sequence {an(μ)}n1\{a_n(\mu)\}_{n\geq 1} is log-convex for any μ>1\mu>-1. We introduce another function θμ(x)\theta_{\mu}(x) involving ζμ(x)\zeta_{\mu}(x) and the gamma function Γ(x)\Gamma(x) and we show that logθμ(x)\log \theta_{\mu}(x) is strictly increasing for x>8e(μ+2)2x>8e(\mu+2)^2. This implies that an(μ)n<an+1(μ)n+1\sqrt[n]{a_n(\mu)}<\sqrt[n+1]{a_{n+1}(\mu)} for n>4e(μ+2)2n> 4e(\mu+2)^2. Based on Dobinski's formula, we prove that Bnn<Bn+1n+1\sqrt[n]{B_n}<\sqrt[n+1]{B_{n+1}} for n1n\geq 1, where BnB_n is the nn-th Bell number. This confirms another conjecture of Sun. We also establish a connection between the increasing property of {Bnn}n1\{\sqrt[n]{B_n}\}_{n\geq 1} and H\"{o}lder's inequality in probability theory.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1208.5213,
  title  = {Zeta Functions and the Log-behavior of Combinatorial Sequences},
  author = {William Y. C. Chen and Jeremy J. F. Guo and Larry X. W. Wang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1208.5213},
  year   = {2013}
}

Comments

16 pages; to appear in Proc. Edinburgh Math. Soc. (2)

R2 v1 2026-06-21T21:55:23.912Z