Positivity conjecture for trigonometric polynomials from square-root coefficients

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For d≥2d\geq 2, define the coefficients bk(d)b_k^{(d)} by

1+z+⋯+zd=∑k=0∞bk(d)zk.\sqrt{1+z+\cdots+z^d}=\sum_{k=0}^\infty b_k^{(d)}z^k.

For each n≥0n\geq 0, define the trigonometric polynomial

Tn(d)(t)=∑k=0nbk(d)cos⁡kt.\mathcal T_n^{(d)}(t)=\sum_{k=0}^n b_k^{(d)}\cos kt.

Positivity conjecture. For d≥2d\geq 2, the trigonometric polynomials Tn(d)(t)\mathcal T_n^{(d)}(t) are positive for every t∈Rt\in\mathbb R. Positivity of these polynomials is suggested as an approach to the zero-free Taylor polynomial conjecture and concerns the coefficients of the non-hypergeometric power series arising from (1−zd+1)/(1−z)\sqrt{(1-z^{d+1})/(1-z)}.

References

Primary source

Leonid V. Kovalev, “Sharp bounds for some segments of bounded power series”, arXiv:2507.04544 (2025).

Additional references

3 papers in this index state this conjecture (2008–2025). The statement above is taken from the most recent of them; the others are arXiv:2110.11549, arXiv:0806.3046.

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