Thursday, 20 April 2017

analysis - When does displaystylelimntoinftyx1/nn=alpha imply displaystylelimntoinftyfracxnalphan exists?



Let xn be a sequence of numbers satisfying
0<xnxn1x0=1,nN
as well as
limnxn=0,and limnxnxn1=α(0,1).
From this it follows that
limnx1/nn=α;

my question is, under what conditions (the milder the better) can one conclude that the limit
L=limnxnαn
exists? I don't think it is true in general, but there are extra properties that the xn satisfy which may be germaine and sufficient to secure the result; for the moment though, I'll keep the question unfettered by potential red herrings.



Some thoughts which may or may not be useful:
the sequence ϕn:=xnαn can be shown to be submultiplicative, i.e.
ϕn+mϕnϕm,n,mN,
and since xn decreases from 1 to 0, there is a point at which it "crosses" the line y=α, after which point xnα<1.



EDIT



Etienne gave a nice answer. It did not apply directly to my specific situation, but I believe it handles the original question nicely. The additional details of my specific problem are unlikely to be searched for - at least much less likely than the original question. So I'll accept the answer and leave it at that!
Thanks!


Answer




Here are simple conditions under which xnαn does converge, without even assuming that (xn) is decreasing or that xnxn1α:



(i) If xnxn1α for all n then xnαn converges (in R).



(ii) If xnxn1α for all n, then xnαn converges in R{+}.



To prove this, set un:=log(xn). If (i) holds, then unun1β:=log(α) for all n. So the sequence vn:=unnβ is nondecreasing. Hence vn has a limit in R{+}, so that xnαn=evn has a limit in R. If (ii) holds, then vn is nonincreasing, so it has a limit in R{} and hence xnαn has a limit in R{+}.



However, as you guessed, the result is not true in general.




Consider for example the sequence defined by x0=1 and the "recurrence relation"
xn=xn1(ααn)
where (αn)n1 is a sequence of real numbers tending to 0 such that αn<α for all n, 1+infn1αn>α and, moreover, the series log(1αnα) is not convergent and does not diverge to . For an explicit example, one may take αn:=(1)nnδ, where 0<δ<α and 1δ>α; or (much simpler), any sequence of negative numbers αn such that 1+infn1αn>α and 1αn=.



Then $0xnαn=1αnnk=1(ααk)=nk=1(1αkα).
Taking the logarithms (which is possible because 1αkα>0, this gives
log(xnαn)=nk=1log(1αkα);
so log(xnαn) does not converge in R and does not tend to either, and hence xnαn does not converge.




Edit. If one takes αn:=a(1ann+1), one gets Clin's example. If one takes αn=αn (assuming α<1/2), one gets the extremely simple xn=(n+1)αn.
Note that α<1/2 is necessary only to ensure that (xn) is decreasing. If one forgets this requirement, one may take
xn=Cnαn
where (Cn) is any sequence of positive numbers such that Cn and Cn+1Cn1. This sequence will be decreasing with x0=1 if C0=1 and Cn+1Cn<1α for all n.


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