Suffridge's convolution theorem for polynomials and entire functions having only real zeros (Q900855)

For a real polynomial \(F\) of degree \(n \geq 2\) with only negative zeros \(x_n\leq x_{n-1} \leq \dots \leq x_1<0\), the logarithmic mesh of \(F\) is defined as \(\text{lmesh}(F):=\max_{j=1,\dots,n-1} \frac{x_j}{x_{j+1}}.\) If \(F(x)=x^mn(x)p(x),\) where \(p\) and \(n\) are polynomials with only positive and only negative zeros, respectively, then \(\text{lmesh}(F):=\max\big\{\text{lmesh}\big(n(x)\big),\text{lmesh}\big(p(-x)\big)\big\}\). Let \(q \in (0,1].\) Put \(R_n(q;x):=\prod_{j=1}^n(1+q^{j-1}x)=\sum_{k=0}^nC_k^n(q)x^k.\) The following two theorems are the main results of the paper. Theorem 1. Assume that all zeros of a polynomial \(F(x)=\sum_{k=0}^nC_k^n(q)a_kx^k\) are real and non-positive, and all zeros of a polynomial \(G(x)=\sum_{k=0}^nC_k^n(q)b_kx^k\) are non-positive. Then: (a) If \(\text{lmesh}(F) <q\) and \(\text{lmesh}(G)\leq q\), then all roots of the polynomial \(F*^n_qG(x):=\sum_{k=0}^nC_k^n(q)a_kb_kx^k\) are real and non-positive, and \(\text{lmesh}(F*^n_qG) <q\). (b) If \(\text{lmesh}(F) \leq q\) and \(F(x) \not \equiv R_n(q;x)\), then, for every \(r \in (0,q)\), all roots of the polynomial \(F*^n_qR_n(r;x)=\sum_{k=0}^nC_k^n(r)a_kx^k\) are real and non-positive, and \(\text{lmesh}(F*^n_qR_n(r;x))<r \). (c) If \(\text{lmesh}(F) \leq q \), for some \(q \in (0,1]\), then \(a_k^2\geq a_{k-1}a_{k+1}\), \(k=1,\dots, n-1\). Theorem 2. If the coefficients of a polynomial \(f(x)=\sum_{k=m}^n a_k x^k\) satisfy the conditions \(a_k^2> a_{k-1}a_{k+1}\), \(k=m+1,\dots, n-1\), then there exists \(q \in (0,1]\) such that all zeros of the polynomial \(f*R_n(q,x):=\sum_{k=0}^nC_k^n(q)a_kx^k\) are real and \(\text{lmesh}(f*R_n(q,x)) <q\). The author also obtains transcendental analogues of these theorems, which can be considered as a \(q\)-extension of Pólya's and Schur's classifications of multiplier sequences, a \(q\)-extension of Newton's inequality and its converse.