Zeros of sections of the binomial expansion (Q964119)

A problem of great interest in classical complex function theory is the following: given a function \(\displaystyle{f(z)=\sum_{k=0}^{\infty}a_{k}z^{k}}\), analytic at \(z=0\), to determine the asymptotic distribution of the zeros of the partial sums \(\displaystyle{s_{n}(z)=\sum_{k=0}^{n}a_{k}z^{k}}\). In this paper, the authors analyze the behavior of the zeros of sections of the binomial expansion, that is, \[ \displaystyle{B_{r,n}(z)=\sum_{k=0}^{r} C_{n}^{k} z^{k}, \,\,\,\, 1 \leq r \leq n}. \] The authors note that this problem was investigated independently by \textit{I. V. Ostrovskii} [Comput. Methods Funct. Theory 4, No. 2, 275--282 (2004; Zbl 1075.30001)], who obtained many of the results that are presented in the paper of the authors. The methods used there involve a bilinear transformation to convert the problem to an integral formulation. This choice of formulation makes the proofs more involved and requires some additional constraints. In contrast, the authors claim that their methods descend directly from the structure of the problem, and yield additional results in terms of additional bounds on the zeros and limiting cases. In the same mentioned paper, a result is given on the spacing of the zeros on the limit curve, using classical potential theoretic methods. The present paper does not duplicate that result, but gives formulations in terms of specific points on the curve. The methods generate a set of constants and two related limit curves for \(0< \alpha <1\) defined by \[ (1.2)\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad \frac{1}{2}\leq K_{\alpha}=\alpha^{\alpha}(1- \alpha)^{1- \alpha}<1,\qquad \] \[ (1.3)\qquad\qquad \quad\;\; C_{\alpha}= \left \{z: \frac{|z|^{\alpha}}{|1+z|}=K_{\alpha}, |z| \leq \frac{\alpha}{1- \alpha} \right \}, \] and \[ (1.4)\qquad\qquad\qquad C_{\alpha}^{\prime}= \left \{z: \frac{|z|^{\alpha}}{|1+z|}=K_{\alpha}, \frac{\alpha}{1- \alpha}\leq |z| \right \}. \] The main results are: Theorem. Let \(r,n\) be positive integers with \(1 \leq r<n-1\), and let \(z^{*}\) be any zero of \(\displaystyle{B_{r,n}(z)=\sum_{k=0}^{r} C_{n}^{k} z^{k}}.\) Then \(z^{*}\) lies in a region defined by the intersection of two circles, a plane closed curve, and the half plane on the right of a vertical line. Specifically, \[ \displaystyle{|z^{*}| \leq \frac{r}{n+1-r}}, \] \[ \displaystyle{\left|z^{*}- \frac{\gamma^{2}}{1- \gamma^{2}} \right| \leq \frac{\gamma}{(1- \gamma^{2})}, \,\,\;\text{ where} \,\,\, \gamma=\frac{r}{n-1}}, \] \[ \displaystyle{Re \,\, z^{*}> - \frac{1}{2}}, \] and \(z^{*}\) lies outside of the curve \(C_{r/n}\), defined in \((1.2)\) - \((1.3)\). Theorem. Suppose \(1 \leq r_{j}<n_{j}-1\) for all \(j\), \(\displaystyle{\lim_{j \to \infty}n_{j}=\infty}\), and \[ \displaystyle{\lim_{j \to \infty}\frac{r_{j}}{n_{j}}=\alpha, \, 0< \alpha <1}. \] Then 1. the zeros of \(\{B_{r_{j},n_{j}}(z)\}\) converge uniformly to points of the curve \(C_{\alpha}\), i.e., \[ \displaystyle{\sup_{z\;:\;B_{r_{j},n_{j}}(z)=0} \,\, d(z,C_{\alpha}) \to 0}, \] where \(d(z,C_{\alpha})=\text{inf}_{\zeta \in C_{\alpha}}|z- \zeta|\) is the distance from \(z\) to \(C_{\alpha}\); 2. each point of \(C_{\alpha}\) is a limit point of zeros of \(\{B_{r_{j},n_{j}}(z)\}_{j=1}^{\infty}\). Theorem. Fix \(0< \delta <1\). Then there exists a constant \(c\), depending only on \(\delta\), such that if \(r,n\) are large and \(\displaystyle{0< \delta < \frac{r}{n}<1- \delta}\), then, for any zero \(z^{*}\) of \(B_{r,n}(z)\), we have \[ \displaystyle{\min_{\zeta \in C_{r/n}}|z^{*}- \zeta| \leq \frac{c}{|z^{*}- \frac{r}{n-r}|}\cdot \frac{\text{ln\,}n}{n}}. \] Additionally, the proximity to the singular point \(\displaystyle{z_{r/n}=\frac{r}{n-r}}\) is of order \(\displaystyle{O \left(\frac{1}{\sqrt{n}} \right)}.\) Theorem. Suppose that \(\displaystyle{\lim_{j \to \infty} r_{j}=\infty}\) and \(\displaystyle{\lim_{j \to \infty}\frac{r_{j}}{n_{j}}=0}.\) Then the limit points of the zeros of \(\displaystyle{\left \{B_{r_{j},n_{j}} \left (\frac{r_{j}z}{n_{j}-r_{j}} \right)\right\}_{j=1}^{\infty}}\) are precisely the points of the Szegö curve \(|ze^{1-z}|=1\), \(|z| \leq 1\). Theorem. Suppose that \(\displaystyle{\lim_{j \to \infty} r_{j}=\infty}\) and \(\displaystyle{\lim_{j \to \infty}\frac{r_{j}}{n_{j}}=1}.\) Then the limit points of the zeros of the polynomials \(\displaystyle{\{B_{r_{j},n_{j}}(z)\}_{j=1}^{\infty}}\) are precisely the points of the line \(\displaystyle{\text{Re \,} z=- \frac{1}{2}}\).