Turán type inequalities for oscillatory special functions

Abstract

In this paper our aim is to prove a conjecture of Á. Baricz on Bessel functions of the first kind, which improves the classical Turán type inequality for Bessel functions of the first kind proved by O. Szász. The idea is to consider the normalized Turán expression for Bessel functions of the first kind and to show that between two consecutive zeros of the Bessel functions of the first kind the branch of this normalized Turán expression has a local minimum, and the minimum values form a strictly increasing convergent sequence, whose terms are strictly decreasing with respect to the order. Moreover, we extend this result to general Bessel functions and regular Coulomb wave functions, and we use a similar approach to show sharp Turán type inequalities for modified Bessel functions of purely imaginary order and parabolic cylinder functions. In addition, we prove a complex analogue of the result on Bessel functions of the first kind about the strictly decreasing property of the successive minimum values: an inclusion property in the complex plane of the Turán expression for Bessel functions of the first kind by using the subordinating factor sequence technique in the sense of H.S. Wilf. The techniques employed in the paper may be useful to treat similar problems where Turánians or normalized Turánians of other oscillatory special functions appear.