On positive definiteness of some functions (Q5915367)

Let \(E\) be a real linear space. As it is well known a complex-valued function \(f: E\to C\) is said to be positive definite on \(E\) if the inequality \[ \sum^n_{j,k= 1} c_k\overline c_jf(x_k- x_j)\geq 0 \] is satisfied for all finite systems of complex numbers \(c_1,c_2,\dots, c_n\) and points \(x_1,x_2,\dots, x_n\) in \(E\). Let \(p\) be a nonnegative homogeneous function on \(\mathbb{R}^n\). Among others, the author gives a criterion for positive definiteness of the function \((1- p^\lambda(x))^\delta_+\) on \(\mathbb{R}^n\) in terms of completely monotonic functions, where \(\lambda>0\) and \(\delta>0\); establishes a connection between this problem and the Schoenberg problem on the positive definiteness of the function \(\exp(- p^\lambda(x))\); obtains a sufficient condition of Pólya type for a function \(f(p(x))\) to be positive definite on \(\mathbb{R}^n\); etc. At the end, he raises four unsolved problems.