Positive definite functions of a special form (Q1813587)

The Bochner-Khintchin theorem states that positive definite function on \(\mathbb{R}^ n\), which are continuous and normed by the condition \(f(0)=1\), are exactly characteristic functions of probability distributions... Here we consider functions \(f: \mathbb{R}^ n\to\mathbb{R}\) of the following form \[ f(x)=p_ s(r)=\sum^ s_{j=0} a_ j r^ j,\quad 0\leq r\leq 1;\;=0,\;r>1,\tag{1} \] where \(x=(x_ 1,\dots,x_ n)\in\mathbb{R}^ n\), \(r=\sqrt{x^ 2_ 1+\cdots+x^ 2_ n}\), \(p_ s(r)\) is a real polynomial of degree \(s\), \(p_ s(0)=1\), \(p_ s(1)=0\). Theorem. Among the functions of the form (1) with \(s<m=[{n\over 2}]+1\) there are no positive definite ones; for \(s=m\) there is a unique positive definite function \[ g(x)=p_ m(r)=(1-r)^ m,\quad 0\leq r\leq 1;\;=0,\;r>1; \] for \(s>m\) there is an infinity of positive definite functions, for example, all functions of the form \[ f(x)=\sum^ s_{k=m} c_ k(1- r)^ k,\quad 0\leq r\leq 1;\;=0,\;r>1, \] where \(c_ k\geq 0\), \(\sum^ s_{k=m} c_ k=1\).