No. 6] Proc. Japan Acad., 96, Ser.

A (2020) 45

New results on slowly varying functions in the Zygmund sense

By Edward O MEYÞ and Meitner C ADENAÞ

(Communicated by Masaki KASHIWARA, M.J.A., June 12, 2020)

Abstract: Very recently Seneta [15] has provided a characterization of slowly varying
functions L in the Zygmund sense by using the condition, for each y > 0,
 
Lðx þ yÞ
ð1Þ x  1 ! 0 as x ! 1:
LðxÞ
We extend this result by considering a wider class of functions and a more general condition than
(1). Further, a representation theorem for this wider class is provided.
Key words: Slowly varying; monotony in the Zygmund sense; class a ðgÞ; self-neglecting
function; extreme value theory; convergence rates.

1. Introduction. The notion of ultimately ing to 0 ðgÞ. This type of functions have been deeply
monotony introduced by Zygmund dates back to studied in [10].
works like [16, p. 237] and [17, p. 186]. It says that a In what follows, a brief review of functions that
function U  0 is slowly varying if for each  > 0 belong to the gamma class and related classes of
the function x UðxÞ is ultimately increasing and functions is shown. Next, the new class called
x UðxÞ is ultimately decreasing. The class of this Zðg; aÞ is introduced and then a result of Zygmund
type of functions is called the Zygmund class (ZSV). type. That section then presents an extension of
A different kind of slowly varying functions was Theorem 2 in [15] and a characterization of the
defined by Karamata [6,7] known as simply the members of Zðg; aÞ.
class of slowly varying functions (KSV). It is known 2. Main Results.
that any ZSV function is a KSV function, see 2.1. Preliminaires. In Omey [10] the author
[17, p. 186] and e.g. [14, p. 49]. studied the following class of functions.
A number of authors have analyzed general- The positive and measurable function g is self-
izations of the functions ZSV, by considering UðxÞ= neglecting (notation: g 2 SN ) if it satisfies
xa is increasing and UðxÞ=xb is decreasing, with
gðx þ ygðxÞÞ
1 < a  b < 1 [3,4,11]. This type of functions ! 1; 8y 2 R
gðxÞ
have applications in analysis, differential equations
and approximation theory [4,5,9,12]. Also, they are and locally uniformy in y.
related with the notion of quasi-convexity, leading The positive and measurable function a is in
to applications in probability [8,13]. the class  ðgÞ if g 2 SN and if
Very recently [15] has given an elegant char-
aðx þ ygðxÞÞ
acterization of the ZSV functions in terms of the ! ey ; 8y 2 R:
aðxÞ
condition (1).
In this paper, we extend this result by consid- In [10] it is proved that this relation automatically
ering a wider notion of ultimately monotony than holds locally uniformly in y.
that proposed by Zygmund. Consequently, a more The positive and measurable function is in the
general limit than that involved in (1) is provided. class E ðg; aÞ if g 2 SN , a 2 0 ðgÞ and
To this aim, we take into account functions related
fðx þ ygðxÞÞ  fðxÞ
to self-neglecting functions and to functions belong- ! y; 8y 2 R:
aðxÞ
2010 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 26A12, In [10] it is proved that this relation automati-
28A10, 45M05, 60G70.
Þ cally holds locally uniformly in y.
KU Leuven, Campus Brussels, Dept. MEES, Warmoes-
berg 26, 1000 Brussels, Belgium. Note that if aðxÞ=fðxÞ ! 0, we find that f 2
Þ
DECE, Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas, Ecuador. 0 ðgÞ with a remainder term.

doi: 10.3792/pjaa.96.009
#2020 The Japan Academy
46 E. OMEY and M. CADENA [Vol. 96(A),

In [10] the author proved that for g 2 SN and This class of functions is a subclass of the class of
a 2 0 ðgÞ we have f 2 E ðg; aÞ if and only if f is of slowly varying functions in the sense of Karamata.
the form fðxÞ ¼ AðGðxÞÞ, where A 2  ðLÞ and G 2 Seneta [15] proved that L is in the Zygmund
1 ðgÞ where L 2 RV0 and g 2 SN . class of SV functions if and only if
In [10, Theorem 2.2] the author also showed  
Lðx þ yÞ
that for g 2 SN and a 2 0 ðgÞ we have f 2 E ðg; aÞ lim x  1 ¼ 0; 8y 2 R:
x!1 LðxÞ
if and only if f can be represented as
Z x In this section we generalize the result of
aðtÞ
fðxÞ ¼ C þ W ðxÞ þ  dt þ V ðxÞ; Seneta to the class Zðg; aÞ. We prove the following
x gðtÞ
result:
where V ðxÞ=aðxÞ ! 0 and W 0 ðxÞgðxÞ=aðxÞ ! 0. Theorem 1. Assume that g 2 SN , a 2 0 ðgÞ
2.2. The class Zðg; aÞ. In view of Zygmund and gðxÞ ¼ oðaðxÞÞ. Let y > 0. The inequalities, for x
we consider the following class of functions. We large and  > 0,
assume that g 2 SN and a 2 0 ðgÞ and we also Z xþygðxÞ
assume that gðxÞ ¼ oðaðxÞÞ. The positive and meas- Uðx þ ygðxÞÞ  exp  a1 ðtÞdt
x
urable function UðxÞ is in the class Zðg; aÞ if it Z x
satisfies:  UðxÞ  exp  a1 ðtÞdt
  x
aðxÞ Uðx þ ygðxÞÞ
ð2Þ lim  1 ¼ 0; 8y 2 R: and
x!1 gðxÞ UðxÞ Z xþygðxÞ
From (2) it follows that U 2 0 ðgÞ and also that Uðx þ ygðxÞÞ  exp  a1 ðtÞdt
x
aðxÞ Z x
ð3Þ lim ðUðx þ ygðxÞ  UðxÞÞ ¼ 0; 8y 2 R;  UðxÞ  exp  a1 ðtÞdt;
x!1 gðxÞUðxÞ x

so that U 2 E0 ðg; bÞ, where bðxÞ ¼ gðxÞUðxÞ= hold if and only if U 2 Zðg; aÞ.
aðxÞ 2 0 ðgÞ. Proof. Assume that U 2 Zðg; aÞ. Let y > 0. We
From (1) it also follows that R x for  2 R the function V ðxÞ ¼ UðxÞ 
consider
aðxÞ Uðx þ ygðxÞÞ exp  x a1 ðtÞdt.
ð4Þ lim log ¼ 0; 8y 2 R; We then have
x!1 gðxÞ UðxÞ
V ðx þ ygðxÞÞ  V ðxÞ
so that log UðxÞ 2 E0 ðg; bÞ where bðxÞ ¼ gðxÞ= V ðxÞ
aðxÞ 2 0 ðgÞ. Z xþygðxÞ
Uðx þ ygðxÞÞ
From the previous subsection we have that in ¼ exp  a1 ðtÞdt  1
each of the relations (2)–(4), the relation holds l.u. UðxÞ x

in y 2 R. ¼ I þ II ;
The representation result of the previous sub- where
section (with  ¼ 0) shows that log UðxÞ can be   Z xþygðxÞ
Uðx þ ygðxÞÞ
written as: I¼  1 exp  a1 ðtÞdt;
UðxÞ x
log UðxÞ ¼ C þ W ðxÞ þ V ðxÞ; Z xþygðxÞ
II ¼ exp  a1 ðtÞdt  1:
where V ðxÞaðxÞ=gðxÞ ! 0 and W 0 ðxÞaðxÞ ! 0. x
2.3. Result of Zygmund type. A positive In the second term we have (put t ¼ x þ gðxÞ)
and measurable function L is in the Zygmund class Z xþygðxÞ Z
gðxÞ y aðxÞ
of slowly varying functions if for any fixed  > 0 and a1 ðtÞdt ¼ d:
x aðxÞ 0 aðx þ gðxÞÞ
any y > 0,
Since a 2 0 ðgÞ, we have
x LðxÞ  ðx þ yÞ Lðx þ yÞ
Z xþygðxÞ Z
1 gðxÞ y gðxÞ
and a ðtÞdt  1d ¼ y
x aðxÞ 0 aðxÞ
x LðxÞ  ðx þ yÞ Lðx þ yÞ:
and we obtain that
No. 6] New results on slowly varying functions in the Zygmund sense 47

Z xþy
aðxÞ Uðx þ yÞ  exp  t1=2 dt
II ! y:
gðxÞ 0
Z x
Now consider the first term. By assumption we have  UðxÞ  exp  t1=2 dt;
  0
aðxÞ Uðx þ ygðxÞÞ
 1 ! 0: or
gðxÞ UðxÞ
Uðx þ yÞ  exp 2ðx þ yÞ1=2  UðxÞ  exp 2x1=2
We conclude that
and
aðxÞ
ðI þ II Þ ! y: Uðx þ yÞ  exp 2ðx þ yÞ1=2
gðxÞ
Moreover, as we argued before, this relation holds  UðxÞ  exp 2x1=2 :
l.u. in y > 0. This implies that for x large enough, (c) Now we assume that gðxÞ ¼ 1 and aðxÞ 2 RV
the sign of I þ II is the same as the sign of . The with 0 <  < 1. In the case we find that
inequalities of the theorem then follow. Z x
1 x
Now we prove a converse result. dt  ;
x aðtÞ aðxÞð1  Þ
Starting from the inequalities in the theorem,
for y > 0 and  > 0 we have where fðxÞ  gðxÞ means limx!1 fðxÞ=gðxÞ ¼
Z xþygðxÞ 1. Using this relationship, we can alter the
exp  a1 ðtÞdt inequalities in the lemma to find
x
Z xþygðxÞ Uðx þ yÞ  exp Aðx þ yÞ  UðxÞ  exp AðxÞ
Uðx þ ygðxÞÞ
  exp  a1 ðtÞdt
UðxÞ x and
with a and g as above. It follows that Uðx þ yÞ  exp Aðx þ yÞ
   
sup aðxÞ Uðx þ ygðxÞÞ  UðxÞ  exp AðxÞ;
y  lim  1  y:
inf gðxÞ UðxÞ
where AðxÞ ¼ x=aðxÞ 2 RV1 .
Since  was arbitrary, we find that (d) As a next example, we take V ðxÞ ¼ UðxÞ 
  ex . Clearly we have
aðxÞ Uðx þ ygðxÞÞ
 1 ! 0:  
gðxÞ UðxÞ Uðx þ yÞ y y V ðx þ yÞ
e ¼e 1
UðxÞ V ðxÞ
The theorem then follows. 
Special Cases and then,
(a) As a first case, we take gðxÞ ¼ 1 and aðxÞ ¼ x,  
Uðx þ yÞ
x ¼ 1. In this case we find back the result of bðxÞ  ey !0
UðxÞ
Seneta as mentioned above.
(b) As a second case, we take gðxÞ ¼ 1 and aðxÞ ¼ if and only if
pffiffiffi 
x; x ¼ 0. We find that  
  V ðx þ yÞ
pffiffiffi Uðx þ yÞ bðxÞ 1 ! 0;
x 1 !0 V ðxÞ
UðxÞ
and the previous results can be applied.
if and only if for x large and  > 0 we have 2.4. A representation theorem for Zðg; aÞ.
Z xþy The following result is inspired by a result of
Uðx þ yÞ  exp  t1=2 dt Bojanic and Karamata [2] on the Zygmund class,
0
Z x see e.g. Theorem 1.5.5 in [1].
 UðxÞ  exp  t1=2 dt Theorem 2. Assume that g 2 SN , a 2 0 ðgÞ,
0
gðxÞ ¼ oðaðxÞÞ and gðxÞ > 0. Assume that U 2
and Zðg; aÞ. Then, for some function f and for x  A
for some A > 0,
48 E. OMEY and M. CADENA [Vol. 96(A),

Z x Z x
UðxÞ ¼ exp c þ fðtÞdt V ðxÞ ¼ V ðAÞ þ fðtÞdt
A A

where aðxÞfðxÞ ! 0. where f is a measurable function satisfying fðxÞ ¼

Proof. Let U 2 Zðg; aÞ. Then, by Theorem 1, V 0 ðxÞ almost everywhere in ðA; 1Þ. One may
the inequalities in such a theorem hold. Taking redefine fðxÞ ¼ 0 where V 0 ðxÞ does not exist. Also,
logarithms in such inequalities, denoting V ðxÞ ¼ according to (5), we have, taking z ¼ x þ ygðxÞ, for
log UðxÞ, gives for x  x for some x > 0 and  > 0 x  A,
Z xþygðxÞ
aðxÞjV ðzÞ  V ðxÞj  ð1 þ Þjz  xj:
V ðx þ ygðxÞÞ þ  a1 ðtÞdt

Z xx Then, when y ! 0, which implies that z ! x,
 V ðxÞ þ  a1 ðtÞdt we have, for x enough large such that V 0 ðxÞ exists,
x
ð1 þ Þ  aðxÞV 0 ðxÞ  ð1 þ Þ
and
Z xþygðxÞ which implies that aðxÞV 0 ðxÞ ! 0 as x ! 1. Hence,
1
V ðx þ ygðxÞÞ   a ðtÞdt we have
Z xx

Z x
 V ðxÞ   a1 ðtÞdt: UðxÞ ¼ exp V ðxÞ ¼ exp V ðAÞ þ fðtÞdt:
x A

Whence we have 
Z xþygðxÞ Remarks 3.
V ðx þ ygðxÞÞ  V ðxÞ   a1 ðtÞdt (a) It is easy to prove that the converse of
x Theorem 2 holds.
and (b) If L is slowly varying in the sense of Zygmund,
Z xþygðxÞ this function thus has the canonical represen-
V ðx þ ygðxÞÞ  V ðxÞ   a1 ðtÞdt; tation given by, see e.g. [15],
x Z x
ðtÞ
and thus LðxÞ ¼ exp c þ dt;
B t
Z xþygðxÞ
jV ðx þ ygðxÞÞ  V ðxÞj   a1 ðtÞdt: for a constant c and a bounded measurable
x function ðxÞ which satisfies ðxÞ ! 0 as x !
We then have, put t ¼ x þ gðxÞ, 1. Taking gðxÞ ¼ 1 and aðxÞ ¼ x, these con-
Z ditions satisfy g 2 SN and gðxÞ ¼ oðaðxÞÞ. We
gðxÞ y aðxÞ
jV ðx þ ygðxÞÞ  V ðxÞj   d: then have aðxÞððxÞ=xÞ ! 0 as x ! 1. The
aðxÞ 0 aðx þ gðxÞÞ
previous remark thus implies that L 2 Zðg; aÞ.
Since a 2 0 ðgÞ, we have for x  x for some
x  x and for any  2 ½0; y
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