On the interplay between hypergeometric series, Fourier-Legendre expansions and Euler sums

TL;DR

This paper explores the relationship between hypergeometric functions, Fourier-Legendre series, and Euler sums, providing new evaluations of series related to π, π^2, and the lemniscate constant through FL-expansions and transformations.

Contribution

It introduces novel methods to express hypergeometric series and Fourier-Legendre expansions in terms of Euler sums and special constants, extending previous work on hypergeometric evaluations.

Findings

Hypergeometric series related to π, π^2, and lemniscate constant are expressed as rational multiples of these constants.

Explicit evaluations of series involving binomial coefficients and powers of 1/4 are provided.

Conversion of hypergeometric functions at ±1 into Euler sums is achieved via FL-expansions.

Abstract

In this work we continue the investigation about the interplay between hypergeometric functions and Fourier-Legendre ($\textrm{FL}$) series expansions. In the section "Hypergeometric series related to $\pi,\pi^2$ and the lemniscate constant", through the FL-expansion of $\left[x(1-x)\right]^\mu$ (with $\mu+1\in\frac{1}{4}\mathbb{N}$) we prove that all the hypergeometric series $$ \sum_{n\geq 0}\frac{(-1)^n(4n+1)}{p(n)}\left[\frac{1}{4^n}\binom{2n}{n}\right]^3,\quad \sum_{n\geq 0}\frac{(4n+1)}{p(n)}\left[\frac{1}{4^n}\binom{2n}{n}\right]^4,$$ $$\quad \sum_{n\geq 0}\frac{(4n+1)}{p(n)^2}\left[\frac{1}{4^n}\binom{2n}{n}\right]^4,\; \sum_{n\geq 0}\frac{1}{p(n)}\left[\frac{1}{4^n}\binom{2n}{n}\right]^3,\; \sum_{n\geq 0}\frac{1}{p(n)}\left[\frac{1}{4^n}\binom{2n}{n}\right]^2 $$ return rational multiples of $\frac{1}{\pi},\frac{1}{\pi^2}$ or the lemniscate constant, as soon as $p(x)$ is a polynomial fulfilling suitable symmetry constraints. Additionally, by computing the FL-expansions of $\frac{\log x}{\sqrt{x}}$ and related functions, we show that in many cases the hypergeometric $\phantom{}_{p+1} F_{p}(\ldots , z)$ function evaluated at $z=\pm 1$ can be converted into a combination of Euler sums. In particular we perform an explicit evaluation of $$ \sum_{n\geq 0}\frac{1}{(2n+1)^2}\left[\frac{1}{4^n}\binom{2n}{n}\right]^2,\quad \sum_{n\geq 0}\frac{1}{(2n+1)^3}\left[\frac{1}{4^n}\binom{2n}{n}\right]^2. $$ In the section "Twisted hypergeometric series" we show that the conversion of some $\phantom{}_{p+1} F_{p}(\ldots,\pm 1)$ values into combinations of Euler sums, driven by FL-expansions, applies equally well to some twisted hypergeometric series, i.e. series of the form $\sum_{n\geq 0} a_n b_n$ where $a_n$ is a Stirling number of the first kind and $\sum_{n\geq 0}b_n z^n = \phantom{}_{p+1} F_{p}(\ldots;z)$.