Asymptotic behaviour of the partition function (Q4515779)

For given integers \(m\) and \(d, 2\leq m\leq d\), the author studies the ``partition function \(b_{m,d}\) of order \(d\) with base \(m\)'', \[ b_{m,d}(n) := \#\Bigl\{ (a_0, a_1, \dots); \quad n = \sum_k a_k\cdot m^k, \text{ where } a_k\in \{0,1,\dots,d-1\},\;k\geq 0 \Bigr\}, \] and the partition function of order \(\infty\), \[ b_{m,\infty}(n) = \lim_{d\to\infty} b_{m,d}(n). \] Strongly extending results of \textit{B. Reznick} [Analytic Number Theory, Conf. Urbana Ill. 1989, Prog. Math. 85, 451-477 (1990; Zbl 0721.11037)] the author shows (with new methods): There exist constants \(\alpha_1, \dots, \alpha_4\) (depending on \(m\) and \(d\) such that for \(\ell > 1 + \log_m(d)\) \[ \alpha_1 \leq \max_{m^{\ell-1}\leq n< m^\ell} b_{m,d}(n) \cdot n^{-\lambda_2} \leq \alpha_2 m, \quad \alpha_3 \leq \min_{m^{\ell-1}\leq n< m^\ell} b_{m,d}(n) \cdot n^{-\lambda_1} \leq \alpha_4 m, \] where \(\lambda_1, \lambda_2 \) are given by \[ \lambda_1 = \liminf_{n\to\infty} {{\log b_{m,d}(n)}\over {\log n}} ,\quad \lambda_2 = \limsup_{n\to\infty} {{\log b_{m,d}(n)}\over {\log n}} . \] So, for \(2\leq m\leq d-1\), \[ \alpha_1 \leq \limsup_{n\to\infty} b_{m,d}(n) \cdot n^{-\lambda_2} \leq \alpha_2m, \quad \alpha_3 \leq \liminf_{n\to\infty} b_{m,d}(n) \cdot n^{-\lambda_2} \leq \alpha_4m, \] and, for \(n > md\), \[ \alpha_3 n^{\lambda_1} \leq b_{m,d}(n) \leq \alpha_2 m n^{\lambda_2}. \] It is shown in the paper that the constants \(\lambda_1, \lambda_2 \) can be given by \[ \lambda_1 = \log_m \check{\rho}, \quad \lambda_2 = \log_m \hat{\rho}, \] where \(\check{\rho}\) and \(\hat{\rho}\) are the lower spectral radius and the common spectral radius of an appropriate system of linear operators. These operators are given in the paper, and there are two paragraphs dealing with the notion of [joint] spectral radius and with operators with an invariant cone. The quantities \(\hat{\rho}\) and \(\check{\rho}\) satisfy the inequalities \[ \left\lfloor {d\over m }\right\rfloor \leq \check{\rho} \leq {d \over m} \leq \hat{\rho} \leq \left\lceil {d\over m }\right\rceil . \] In the special case \(m=2\) the author conjectures: For all pairs \((m,d) = (2,2k+1)\) the equalities \[ \hat{\rho}(A_0,A_1) = \max \Bigl\{\rho(A_0), \sqrt{\rho(A_0 A_1) } \Bigr\},\quad \check{\rho}(A_0,A_1) = \min \Bigl\{\rho(A_0), \sqrt{\rho(A_0 A_1) } \Bigr\} \] are true, where \(\rho\) is the usual spectral radius, and the operators \(A_0\) and \(A_1\) are given in the paper. The author proves this conjecture [by long calculations] for all pairs \((2,2k+1)\), where \(k\) is restricted by \(1\leq k\leq 6\). Concerning the method of proof for the main theorem, we quote from the author's paper: ``\dots we put forward a geometric approach to the analysis of partition functions. The central idea is that, in place of the function \(b(n)\), we study the vector-valued function \[ v(n) = \bigl( b(n), \dots, b(n-s+1) \bigr)^T \in {\mathbb R}^s, \] where the dimension \(s\) is defined separately for each pair \((m,d)\). The vector \(v(n)\) here can be obtained from another vector \(v(0)\) by the application of an appropriate sequence of linear operators. Next we study the asymptotic behaviour of the quantity \(\|v(n) \|\) as \(n\to\infty\) making use of the joint spectral radius \dots\ of these operators.