English

A property of a partial theta function

Classical Analysis and ODEs 2015-04-08 v1

Abstract

The series θ(q,x):=j=0qj(j+1)/2xj\theta (q,x):=\sum _{j=0}^{\infty}q^{j(j+1)/2}x^j converges for q<1|q|<1 and defines a {\em partial theta function}. For any fixed q(0,1)q\in (0,1) it has infinitely many negative zeros. It is known that for qq taking one of the {\em spectral} values q~1\tilde{q}_1, q~2\tilde{q}_2, \ldots (where 0.3092493386=q~1<q~2<<10.3092493386\ldots =\tilde{q}_1<\tilde{q}_2<\cdots <1, limjq~j=1\lim _{j\rightarrow \infty}\tilde{q}_j=1) the function θ(q,.)\theta (q,.) has a double zero which is the rightmost of its real zeros (the rest of them being simple). For qq~jq\neq \tilde{q}_j the partial theta function has no multiple real zeros. We prove that: 1) for q(q~j,q~j+1]q\in (\tilde{q}_{j},\tilde{q}_{j+1}] the function θ\theta is a product of a degree 2j2j real polynomial without real roots and a function of the Laguerre-P\'olya class LPI\cal{LP-I}; 2) for qC\0q\in \mathbb{C}\backslash 0, q<1|q|<1, θ(q,x)=i(1+x/xi)\theta (q,x)=\prod _i(1+x/x_i), where xi-x_i are the zeros of θ\theta; 3) for any fixed qC\0q\in \mathbb{C}\backslash 0, q<1|q|<1, the function θ\theta has at most finitely-many multiple zeros; 4) for any q(1,0)q\in (-1,0) the function θ\theta is a product of a real polynomial without real zeros and a function of the Laguerre-P\'olya class LP\cal{LP}. 5) for any fixed qC\0q\in \mathbb{C}\backslash 0, q<1|q|<1, and for kk sufficiently large, the function θ\theta has a zero ζk\zeta _k close to qk-q^{-k}. These are all but finitely-many of the zeros of θ\theta.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1504.01524,
  title  = {A property of a partial theta function},
  author = {Vladimir Petrov Kostov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1504.01524},
  year   = {2015}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T09:11:27.837Z