Limits of Jensen polynomials for partitions and other sequences (Q2165642)

A sequence \(\{\alpha(n)\}_{n\ge 0}\) of real numbers is said to satisfy the Turán inequalities or to be log-concave if for \(n\ge 0\), \(\alpha(n+1)^2\ge \alpha(n)\alpha(n+2)\). For the partition function \(p(n)\), \textit{J.-L. Nicolas} [Ann. Inst. Fourier (Grenoble) 28, No. 4, 1--16 (1978; Zbl 0363.10027)], \textit{S. DeSalvo} and \textit{I. Pak} [Ramanujan J. 38, 61--73 (2015; Zbl 1322.05018)] proved the log-concavity for \(n\ge 25\). For the overpartition function \(\overline{p}(n)\) (which counts the partitions of \(n\) where the first appearance of a part of each size may be overlined), \textit{B. Engel} [Ramanujan J. 43, 229--241 (2017; Zbl 1373.05018)] proved the log-concavity for all \(n\). Define the \(d\)th Jensen polynomial associated to the sequence \(\alpha\), and with shift \(n\), as \[ J_{\alpha}^{d,n}(X)=\sum_{j=0}^d \binom{d}{j} \alpha(n+j)X^j. \] \textit{J. L. W. V. Jensen} [Acta Math. 36, 181--195 (1913; JFM 43.0158.01)] used the reciprocal polynomial \[ X^dJ_{\alpha}^{d,n}(1/X) \] to give criteria for an entire function to have only real zeros. \textit{M. Griffin} et al. [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 116, No. 23, 11103--11110 (2019; Zbl 1431.11105)] discovered that the Jensen polynomials associated to many sequences have Hermite polynomial limits as \(n \to \infty\). In the paper under review the author develops this theory in detail, based on the log-polynomial property which is a refinement of log-concavity and log-convexity. Extending the previous Hermite polynomial limits to the reciprocal Jensen polynomials, as conditions, the author obtains the notion of Hermite-Jensen sequences and proves that the sequences \(p(n)\) and \(\overline{p}(n)\) are Hermite-Jensen. An application to the sequence of factorials leads naturally to evaluating limits of generalized Laguerre polynomials.