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It's well known that there are a shocking number of identities for the usual Jacobi theta function $$ \theta_3(x) = \sum_{n=-\infty}^{\infty} x^{n^2}. $$

So I wanted to turn my attention to slowly decreasing exponents. If I make my $n$ decay too slow such as $$f(x) = \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} x^{\log n}, $$

we basically have the Riemann zeta function and end up in well explored territory via the relation

$$f(x) = \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} x^{\log n} = \zeta( - \log x). $$

So then I started to consider some slowly growing exponents that don't grow TOO slowly and the obvious first candidate is

$$ G(x) = \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} x^{\sqrt{n}}. $$

Has anyone looked into this object/similar algebraic exponents? Is it known to obey any interesting identities? It seems like a natural object to consider even without an application/motivation.

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    $\begingroup$ $G$ satisfies the functional equation $$\sum_{k=1}^\infty\mu(k)\cdot G(x^\sqrt{k})=x$$ where $\mu$ is the Moebius mu function. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 5, 2022 at 4:34
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    $\begingroup$ Converges for complex $x$ with $|x|<1$, diverges for others. Perhaps that is the first thing to note. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 5, 2022 at 10:10
  • $\begingroup$ @JosephVanName how do you prove that result? $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 6, 2022 at 5:01
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    $\begingroup$ The proof of my functional equation (and I should have written $G(x^{\sqrt{k}})-1$ instead) is almost the same as the proof that $\frac{1}{\zeta(s)}=\sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\frac{\mu(k)}{k^s}$. We just apply the fact that the Mobius $\mu$-function is the inverse with respect to the Dirichlet convolution to the function $I$ where $I(n)=1$ for all $n$. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 7, 2022 at 0:01
  • $\begingroup$ Is this related? math.stackexchange.com/q/4774209/8530 $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 23, 2023 at 14:56

3 Answers 3

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The series $$\tag{0}\label{0} G_a(x)=\sum_{n=0}^\infty x^{\sqrt[a]{n}} $$ can be calculated for $0<x<1$ and $a\geq1$ using Cauchy's residue theorem. We use the fact that $\pi \cot(\pi n)$ has residues 1 at $n\in \mathbb Z$, and deform the integration contour to the imaginary axis in the usual way. After the substitution $n\to (-\nu\,/\log x)^a$ we get \begin{align}\tag{1}\label{1} G_a(x) %&= %\frac{\Gamma(1+a)}{(-\log x)^a} + \frac 1 2 %+ \frac{2a}{(-\log x)^a} \times\\ %&\quad\int_0^\infty \nu^{a-1} %\exp\left[-\nu \cos\left(\frac{\pi}{2a}\right)\right] %\sin\left[ \nu \sin\left(\frac{\pi}{2a}\right)\right] %\left(\coth\left[\pi \left(\frac{\nu}{-\log %x}\right)^a\right]-1\right)\mathrm{d}\nu \\ &=\frac{\Gamma(1+a)}{(-\log x)^a} + \frac 1 2 + \frac{2a}{(-\log x)^a} \int_0^\infty \frac{\nu^{a-1} \exp\left[-\nu \cos\left(\frac{\pi}{2a}\right)\right] \sin\left[ \nu \sin\left(\frac{\pi}{2a}\right)\right]} {\exp\left[2\pi \left(\frac{\nu}{-\log x}\right)^a\right]-1} \mathrm{d}\nu, \end{align} or, after back-substitution, $$\tag{2}\label{2} G_a(x)= \frac{\Gamma(1+a)}{(-\log x)^a} + \frac 1 2 + \int_0^{\mathrm i\infty} \frac{ x^{\sqrt[a]{n}} - x^{\sqrt[a]{-n}}} {\mathrm e^{-2\pi \mathrm i n}-1} \mathrm{d} n. $$ The $1/2$ can be seen as the first Euler–Maclaurin correction. The integral \eqref{2} converges exponentially fast. This result is identically obtained using the Abel–Plana formula.

Edit 08.08.22,23:20 CEST

As pointed out by @Joseph, we better consider the series $$\tag{3}\label{3} H_a(z) = G_a(\mathrm e^z)-1 = \sum_{n=1}^\infty \mathrm e^{\sqrt[a]{n} z}, $$ with $\mathrm{Re}(z) < 0$ and again $a\geq1$.

An even simpler evaluation is the following: expanding the exponential into a Taylor series, $$\tag{4}\label{4} \mathrm e^{\sqrt[a]{n} z} = 1 + \sum_{k=1}^\infty n^{k/a} \frac{z^k}{k!} $$ and interchanging sums, we directly get a representation involving the Riemann zeta function, $$\tag{5}\label{5} H_a(z) = \frac{\Gamma(1+a)}{(-z)^{a}} + \sum_{k=0}^\infty \zeta\left(-\frac{k}{a}\right)\frac{z^k}{k!}, $$ where the first term is regularized as in \eqref{2}. The term $-1/2$ is identified with the zeta-regularized sum for $k=0$ and is moved back into the sum, which therefore starts at $k=0$.

A Mathematica function that checks \eqref{3} against \eqref{5} reads

r[a_,z_] := Gamma[1+a]/(-z)^a + Sum[Zeta[-k/a] z^k/k!, {k,0,100}]
            - NSum[Exp[n^(1/a) z], {n,1,∞}, NSumTerms->200000, 
              WorkingPrecision->50, Method->"EulerMaclaurin"]

I guess that for the original case $a=2$, Eq. \eqref{5} can be related to square-free numbers from @Joseph's answer through their generating function $\zeta(s)/\zeta(2s)$, cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square-free_integer.

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  • $\begingroup$ Hmm, does your formula 2 allow an analytic continuation then? The original series only converges for $|x|<1$, but your left-hand identity might converge for a bigger region. $\endgroup$
    – JoshuaZ
    Commented Aug 8, 2022 at 0:09
  • $\begingroup$ I was trying to expand the function as a power series of $\log(x)$ and also got the constant term was $\frac{1}{2}$. For some reason when I graph the series I have found so far it does not match at all with the graph of the original function so I'm probably missing something more, im gonna explore the integral you have here and see a log-series of that looks like $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 8, 2022 at 2:00
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    $\begingroup$ @JoshuaZ One must be careful about the position of the branch cuts. For integer $a=1,2,\ldots$, (2) might be the correct analytic continuation to |x|>1. Furthermore, (1) and (2) seem to be correct for complex $x$ with $|x|<1$, I have not checked this in detail. $\endgroup$
    – Fred Hucht
    Commented Aug 8, 2022 at 7:15
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    $\begingroup$ should that last index of summation on line (5) with the zeta function be from $0$ to $\infty$ assuming $\zeta(0) =-\frac{1}{2}$? $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 9, 2022 at 0:26
  • $\begingroup$ @SidharthGhoshal You are right, the sum in (5) starts from $k=0$, I have fixed that error. I also added a Mathematica snippet that checks (3) against (5). $\endgroup$
    – Fred Hucht
    Commented Aug 9, 2022 at 7:12
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In my former research group, we worked, for basic practical applications, the more general problem of $$G_a(x)=\sum_{n=0}^\infty x^{n^{\frac{1}{a}}}$$ and, for sure, we made the approximation $$G_a(x)\sim \int_0^\infty x^{n^{\frac{1}{a}}}\,\mathrm d n=\frac{\Gamma(1+a)}{(-\log x)^a}$$ which, for our needs, was more than sufficient.

I would be interested to know if, currently, we could have a better approximation.

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I claim that the function $G$ satisfies a few functional equations, but in order to formulate our functional equation, we need to extend $G$ to a much larger domain. One often has to extend a function to a larger domain in order for the functional equation to make sense; this is certainly the case for the functional equations involving the Gamma function since one has to extend the factorial function from $\mathbb{N}$ to $\mathbb{C}$ for such a functional equation to be sensible.

Let $H:\{z\in\mathbb{C}\mid\text{Re}(z)<0\}\rightarrow\mathbb{C}$ be the function defined by $H(z)=\sum_{k=1}^{\infty}e^{\sqrt{k}z}$. Then $H(z)=G(e^z)-1$.

Now, let $F$ be the collection of all square free positive integers. Then $$H(z)=\sum_{k\in F}\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}e^{\sqrt{k}nz}=\sum_{k\in F}\frac{e^{\sqrt{k}z}}{1-e^{\sqrt{k}z}}=\sum_{k\in F}\frac{-1}{2}\cdot e^{\sqrt{k}z/2}\cdot\text{sech}(\sqrt{k}z/2).$$

Generalized analytic continuation of derivative Observe that $$H'(z)=\sum_{k\in F}\frac{\sqrt{k}e^{\sqrt{k}z}}{(1-e^{\sqrt{k}z})^2}=\sum_{k\in F}\frac{\sqrt{k}}{4}\cdot\text{sech}(\frac{\sqrt{k}z}{2})^2.$$ This formula converges on $\{a+bi\mid a,b\in\mathbb{R},a\neq 0\}$, so the derivative $H'$ admits a 'generalized analytic continuation' to the complex plane except for the imaginary axis. We have $H'(z)=H'(-z)$ whenever $z$ is a complex number that is not on the imaginary axis. However, I do not know of any rigorous generalized notion of analytic continuation in which we can extend $H'$ from the half plane so that it satisfies $H'(z)=H'(-z)$, and I cannot find out

Continuation to compactification

Now, let $\iota:\mathbb{R}\rightarrow(S^1)^F$ be the function defined by letting $\iota(\theta)=(e^{i\sqrt{k}\theta})_{k\in F}$. Then $\iota[\mathbb{R}]$ is dense in $(S^1)^F$.

Define a function $K:(-\infty,0)\times(S^1)^F\rightarrow\mathbb{C}$ by letting $K(t,(b_k)_{k\in K})=\sum_{k\in F}\frac{b_k \exp(\sqrt{k}t)}{1-b_k\exp(\sqrt{k}t)}.$ Then the function $K$ is an extension of the function $H$ since $H(a+bi)=K(a,(e^{i\sqrt{k}b})_{k\in F})$. Then the function $K$ is a continuous function, and $K$ is the only continuous function where $H(a+bi)=K(a,(e^{i\sqrt{k}b})_{k\in F})$ whenever $a<0$. If $(t,(b_k)_{k\in K})\in(-\infty,0)\times S_1^F$, then define a chart $j_{(t,(b_k)_{k\in K})}:\{z\in\mathbb{C}\mid\text{Re}(z)<0\}\rightarrow (-\infty,0)\times S_1^F$ by letting $j_{(t,(b_k)_{k\in K})}(a+bi)=(a+t,(b_k\cdot e^{i\sqrt{k}b})_{k\in K}).$ Then the composition $K\circ j_{(t,(b_k)_{k\in F})}$ is always holomorphic. Therefore, $K$ is 'holomorphic' in the sense that the composition of $K$ with each of these coordinate charts is holomorphic and the images of these coordinate charts partition the space $(-\infty,0)\times S_1^F$ into a whole bunch of half planes.

Observe that $(-\infty,0)\times S_1^F$ is a locally compact abelian semigroup. We shall write $+$ for this semigroup operation.

Now, observe that $$\frac{nz^{n}}{z^{n}-1}=\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}\frac{z}{z-\exp(\frac{2\pi i k}{n})}.$$

Theorem: $$\sum_{j=0}^{n-1}K(\mathbf{z}+(e^{2\pi ij/n})_{k\in F})=n\cdot K(n\mathbf{z})$$ whenever $\mathbf{z}\in (-\infty,0)\times S_1^F.$

Proof: We first observe that $$-K(t,(e^{i\theta}b_k)_{k\in F})=\sum_{k\in F}\frac{b_k\exp(\sqrt{k}t)}{b_k\exp(\sqrt{k}t)-e^{i\theta}}.$$ Therefore, $$\sum_{j=0}^{n-1}-K(t,(b_k\exp(-2\pi i j/n))_{k\in F})=\sum_{k\in F}\sum_{j=0}^{n-1}\frac{b_k\exp(\sqrt{k}t)}{b_k\exp(\sqrt{k}t)-\exp(2\pi ij/n)}$$

$$=\sum_{k\in F}\frac{n(b_k\exp(\sqrt{k}t))^n}{(b_k\exp(\sqrt{k}t))^n-1} =n\sum_{k\in F}\frac{b_k^n\exp(n\sqrt{k}t)}{b_k^n\exp(n\sqrt{k}t)-1} =-n\cdot K(nt,(b_k^n)_{k\in F}).$$ Q.E.D.

As a consequence, $$\sum_{j=0}^{n-1}K'(\mathbf{z}+(e^{2\pi ij/n})_{k\in F})=n^2\cdot K'(n\mathbf{z})$$ whenever $\mathbf{z}\in (-\infty,0)\times S_1^F.$

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  • $\begingroup$ If one does a similar extension for the Riemann zeta function, one obtains a formula of the form $\zeta(ns)=\zeta(s+a_0)\dots\zeta(s+a_{n-1})$ for constants $a_0,\dots,a_{n-1}\in S_1^P$ where $P$ is the set of all prime numbers. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 8, 2022 at 21:02
  • $\begingroup$ I'm digesting this some more, if we are lucky there might be enough ingredients here to recover a decomposition for the difference $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} e^{\sqrt{n}x} - \left( \frac{\Gamma(1+a)}{(-x)^a} +\sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \zeta \left( \frac{k}{a} \right) \frac{x^k}{k!} \right) $$ $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 9, 2022 at 0:55
  • $\begingroup$ Does the expression $nz$ only act on the real part or on the square free circle $S^1$ parts too? if it acts on the $S^1$ parts does $nx$ just mean $x + x + x .... $ (n times) in $S^1$? $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 9, 2022 at 1:09
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    $\begingroup$ Since $(-\infty,0)\times S_1^F$ is a semigroup, $n\mathbf{z}$ is defined whenever $\mathbf{z}\in (-\infty,0)\times S_1^F$ and the functional equation holds whenever $\mathbf{z}\in(-\infty,0)\times S_1^F$ and not just for the negative real numbers $z$. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 9, 2022 at 3:54
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    $\begingroup$ @SidharthGhoshal: In your comment, It should read $\zeta(-k/a)$. Also, please use $z$ for the new variable $z=\log x$. Ans finally, in the lhs $a=2$. The difference is zero for $z<0$ and $a\geq 1$, see my updated answer. $\endgroup$
    – Fred Hucht
    Commented Aug 9, 2022 at 7:18

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