Convergence and divergence of the Ramanujan AGM fraction (Q935015): Difference between revisions

Several years ago \textit{J. Borwein, R. Crandall} and \textit{G. Fee} [Exp. Math. 13, 275--286 (2004; Zbl 1090.11005)] proved that Ramanujan's continued fraction \[ {\mathcal R}_{\eta}(a,b):={a\over\eta+}\,{b^2\over\eta+}\,{4a^2\over\eta+}\,{9b^2\over\eta+} \cdots{(2n)^2a^2\over\eta+}\,{(2n+1)^2b^2\over\eta+}\cdots,\tag{\(*\)} \] where \(ab\not= 0\), satisfies \[ {\mathcal R}_{\eta}({a+b\over 2},\sqrt{ab})={1\over 2}({\mathcal R}_{\eta}(a,b)+{\mathcal R}_{\eta}(b,a))\tag{1} \] when \(a,b,\eta\) are positive numbers. Moreover, they proved that \((\ast)\) converges to a finite value when \(a,b,\eta\) are positive. Using an equivalence transformation, it appears to be sufficient to study the case where \(\eta=1\) and in a subsequent paper \textit{J. Borwein} and \textit{R. Crandall} [Exp. Math. 13, No. 3, 287--295 (2004; Zbl 1122.11044)] asked for the precise determination of the convergence domain \[ {\mathcal D}_0:=\{(a,b)\in\mathbb C^2:{\mathcal R}_1(a,b)\text{ converges in }\hat{\mathbb C}\};\;\hat{\mathbb C}= \mathbb C\cup\{\infty\}, \] where they proved \[ {\mathcal D}_1:=\{(a,b)\in\mathbb C^2:|a|\not= |b|\text{ or }a^2=b^2\not\in(-\infty,0]\}\subseteq{\mathcal D}_0 \] and conjectured \[ {\mathcal D}_0={\mathcal D}_1.\tag{2} \] In the paper under review, this conjecture is proved in an elegant manner, using analytical results in continued fraction theory only. Moreover, Lorentzen also proves another conjecture from Borwein and Crandall loc. cit. \[ {a\over b}\in{\mathcal H}:=\{z\in\mathbb C:|\sqrt{z}/(1+z)|<{1\over 2}\}\Rightarrow \text{(1) holds for }\eta=1. \] The paper concludes with a section on convergence acceleration with several examples from the cases \(|a|\not= |b|\) and \(a^2=b^2\not\in (-\infty,0]\). It is mentioned in the paper that \textit{D. Borwein, J. Borwein, R. Crandall} and \textit{R. Mayer} [Ramanujan J. Math. 13, No. 1--3, 63--105 (2007; Zbl 1121.11047)] proved conjecture (2) independently around the time that the paper by Lorentzen was submitted (submission: May 2, 2005; accepted: October 18, 2005; published online: May 11, 2008).