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# On Pointwise Estimates of Positive Definite Functions With Given Support

Published:2006-04-01
Printed: Apr 2006
• Mihail N. Kolountzakis
• Szilárd Gy. Révész
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## Abstract

The following problem has been suggested by Paul Tur\' an. Let $\Omega$ be a symmetric convex body in the Euclidean space $\mathbb R^d$ or in the torus $\TT^d$. Then, what is the largest possible value of the integral of positive definite functions that are supported in $\Omega$ and normalized with the value $1$ at the origin? From this, Arestov, Berdysheva and Berens arrived at the analogous pointwise extremal problem for intervals in $\RR$. That is, under the same conditions and normalizations, the supremum of possible function values at $z$ is to be found for any given point $z\in\Omega$. However, it turns out that the problem for the real line has already been solved by Boas and Kac, who gave several proofs and also mentioned possible extensions to $\RR^d$ and to non-convex domains as well. Here we present another approach to the problem, giving the solution in $\RR^d$ and for several cases in~$\TT^d$. Actually, we elaborate on the fact that the problem is essentially one-dimensional and investigate non-convex open domains as well. We show that the extremal problems are equivalent to some more familiar ones concerning trigonometric polynomials, and thus find the extremal values for a few cases. An analysis of the relationship between the problem for $\RR^d$ and that for $\TT^d$ is given, showing that the former case is just the limiting case of the latter. Thus the hierarchy of difficulty is established, so that extremal problems for trigonometric polynomials gain renewed recognition.
 Keywords: Fourier transform, positive definite functions and measures, Turán's extremal problem, convex symmetric domains, positive trigonometric polynomials, dual extremal problems
 MSC Classifications: 42B10 - Fourier and Fourier-Stieltjes transforms and other transforms of Fourier type 26D15 - Inequalities for sums, series and integrals 42A82 - Positive definite functions 42A05 - Trigonometric polynomials, inequalities, extremal problems

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