Endpoint Absolute Monotonicity for the Complete Elliptic Integral of the First Kind

Abstract

Let \begin{equation*} f_p(x)=\frac{\mathcal{K}(\sqrt{x})}{p-\ln\sqrt{1-x}}, \end{equation*} where $\mathcal{K}$ denotes the complete elliptic integral of the first kind, and set $g_p=1/f_p$. Tian and Yang conjectured that, at $p=\ln4$, both $-f_{\ln4}^{\prime\prime\prime}$ and $g_{\ln4}$ are absolutely monotonic on $(0,1)$. Writing \begin{equation*} \frac{2}πf_{\ln4}(x)=\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}a_n(\ln4)x^n,\quad \fracπ{2}g_{\ln4}(x)=\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}b_n(\ln4)x^n, \end{equation*} we prove \begin{equation*} a_n(\ln4)<0\quad(n\geq3),\quad b_n(\ln4)>0\quad(n\geq0), \end{equation*} thereby settling both conjectures. The proof of the first inequality is based on the representation \begin{equation*} a_n(\ln4)=\frac{(-1)^nC}{15^{n+1}}-M_n, \end{equation*} where $C>0$ and $(M_n)$ is a positive moment sequence. Its strict log-convexity, together with estimates for the initial coefficients, determines the sign of every $a_n$. The second inequality follows from a factorization of the quadratic truncation of the normalized Taylor series and a reciprocal-series argument.