Hardy-Petrovitch-Hutchinson's problem and partial theta function (Q1950285)

A polynomial \(p(x)=a_0+a_1x+a_2x^2+\ldots +a_nx^n\) with positive coefficients is called section-hyperbolic if, for all \(i=1,2,3,\ldots ,n\), each of its section \(a_0+a_1x+a_2x^2+\ldots +a_i x^i\) has only real roots. The paper deals with the class \(\Delta\) of all section-hyperbolic polynomials. The authors give the conclusive answer to the following question: Problem (Hardy-Petrovitch-Hutchinson-Ostrovskii). For a given positive integer \(i\), find or estimate \[ m_i=\inf_{p\in \Delta} \frac{a_i^2}{a_{i-1}a_{i+1}}. \] Using an inductive procedure, they construct an entire function \(p_{\infty }=1+x+\sum_{n=2}^{\infty } A_n x^n\) such that, for any positive integer \( i,\) one has \( m_i=\frac{A_i^2}{A_{i-1}A_{i+1}}\), that is \(p_{\infty }\) minimizes all \(m_i\) simultaneously. The authors prove that the limit \(m_{\infty}=\lim_{i \to \infty} m_i\) exists and coincides with \(1/\tilde {q}\), where \(\tilde{q} >0\) is the maximal positive number for which the partial theta function \(\Psi(q,u)=\sum_{j=0}^{\infty }q^{j(j+1)/2}u^j\) has only real roots as a function of \(u\). They state that this number \(\tilde{q} \) is the unique solution of the equation \(\frac{1}{x}-\frac{2}{1-x}=\sum_{j=1}^{\infty} \frac{x^j}{1-x^{j+1}}\) beloning to the interval \((0,1)\).