Extensions of Vietoris's inequalities I (Q2479865)

Vietoris's celebrated theorem, obtained in [Österreich. Akad. Wiss. Math.-Natur. Kl. S.-B. II 167, 125--135 (1958; Zbl 0088.27402); Anz. Österreich. Akad. Wiss. Math.-Natur. Kl., 192--193 (1959; Zbl 0090.04301)], states that if the sequence \((a_{k})\) satisfies \(a_{0}\geq a_{1}\geq \ldots \geq a_{n}>0\) and \(2ka_{2k}\leq (2k-1)a_{2k-1}, k \geq 1\) then \[ \sum_{k=0}^{n}a_{k}\cos k\theta>0,\quad 0<\theta<\pi.\quad (1) \] This theorem received attention by many researchers who offered various types of extensions and generalizations. In this paper, the authors give a proof that inequality (1) is valid when the sequence of coefficients is \(a_{k}=c_{k}(\beta)\), where \(c_{0}(\beta)=c_{1}(\beta)=1\) and \(c_{2k+1}(\beta)=c_{2k}(\beta)=(1-\frac{\beta}{k})c_{2k-1}(\beta), \;\;k\geq 1\) and \(\beta_{0}\leq \beta<1\), where \(\beta_{0}\) is the unique solution in \((0,\,1)\) of the equation \( \int_{0}^{\frac{3\pi}{2}}\frac{\cos t}{t^{\beta}}\,dt=0\). Furthermore, \(\beta_{0}\) is best possible in the sense that for any \(\beta\in (0,\beta_{0})\) the corresponding sums (1) are unbounded below. The approximate value of \(\beta_{0}\) is \(\beta_{0}=0.30844\ldots\). A different proof of this result was independently obtained by the reviewer [Ramanujan J. 14, No. 1, 1--38 (2007; Zbl 1138.42002)] together with a number of applications of it which explain why there is interest in these sharp inequalities. In a subsequent paper [J. Approx. Theory 149, No. 1 (2007; Zbl 1135.42001)], \textit{S. Ruscheweyh} and the reviewer have given additional applications of the above result in geometric function theory on problems dealing with properties of partial sums of starlike functions. In the paper under review the authors give no applications of the obtained results. Besides, on several stages their proofs, which are admittedly very involved, are obtained by computer verifications (`mechanical calculations'). The inelegant assumption that \(m\geq 100\) appears throughout the paper and it is left to the reader to check the cases \(1\leq n\leq 200\) of the main result numerically.