Some properties of completely monotonic sequences and related interpolation (Q2434797)

The author studies completely monotonic sequences, introduced in the usual manner. A sequence \(\{\mu_n\}_{n=0}^{\infty}\) is called completely monotonic if for all \(n,k\in\mathbb{N}_0:=\{0\}\cup\mathbb{N}\) the differences satisfy \((-1)^k\Delta^k\mu_n\geq 0\). Here \(\Delta^0\mu_n=\mu_n,\;\Delta^{k+1}\mu_n=\Delta^k\mu_{n+1}-\Delta^k\mu_n\). Moreover, the sequence is called minimal completely monotonic if it is completely monotonic and it will not be so when \(\mu_0\) is replaced by a smaller number. For background, the reader is referred to the book by \textit{D. V. Widder} [The Laplace transform. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press (1941; Zbl 0063.08245; JFM 67.0384.01)]. The main results of the paper are then: { Theorem 6.} If the sequence \(\{\mu_n\}_{n=0}^{\infty}\) is completely monotonic, then there exist a unique number \(\mu_0^{*}\), such that the sequence \(\{\mu_0^{*},\mu_1,\mu_2,\ldots\}\) is minimal completely monotonic. { Theorem 7.} If the sequence \(\{\mu_n\}_{n=0}^{\infty}\) is completely monotonic, then for any \(\varepsilon\in (0,1)\), there exists a continuous interpolating function \(f(x)\) on the interval \([0,\infty)\), such that \(f|_{[0,\varepsilon]}\) and \(f|_{[\varepsilon,\infty)}\) are both completely monotonic and \(f(n)=\mu_n,\;n\in\mathbb{N}_0\).