Analytic theory of finite asymptotic expansions in the real domain. Part I: two-term expansions of differentiable functions

Abstract

We establish a general analytic theory of asymptotic expansions of type 1 $$f(x) = a_1 \varphi _1 (x) + \cdots + a_n \varphi _n (x) + o(\varphi _n (x)) x \to x_0 ,$$ , where the given ordered n-tuple of real-valued functions (ϕ 1, ..., ϕ n ) forms an asymptotic scale at x 0 ∈ . By analytic theory, as opposed to the set of algebraic rules for manipulating finite asymptotic expansions, we mean sufficient and/or necessary conditions of general practical usefulness in order that (*) hold true. Our theory is concerned with functions which are differentiable (n − 1) or n times and the presented conditions involve integro-differential operators acting on f, ϕ 1, ..., ϕ n . We essentially use two approaches; one of them is based on canonical factorizations of nth-order disconjugate differential operators and gives conditions expressed as convergence of certain improper integrals, very useful for applications. The other approach starts from simple geometric considerations and gives conditions expressed as the existence of finite limits, as x → x 0, of certain Wronskian determinants constructed with f, ϕ 1, ..., ϕ n . There is a link between the two approaches and it turns out that some of the integral conditions found via the factorizational approach have geometric meanings. Our theory extends to more general expansions the theory of real-power asymptotic expansions thoroughly investigated in previous papers. In the first part of our work we study the case of two comparison functions ϕ 1, ϕ 2 because the pertinent theory requires a very limited theoretical background and completely parallels the theory of polynomial expansions.