On the Alzer-Berg problem: an optimal Bernstein boundary and a uniqueness conjecture

Source abstract

We study the two-parameter exponential family associated with the complete-monotonicity problem of Alzer and Berg. Strict necessary parameter bounds place every possible Bernstein function in the domain of a regularized Laplace representation. A quantitative positivity-transfer inequality then yields a linear sufficient condition with the largest possible universal coefficient, expressed in terms of the exact one-parameter critical exponent. To describe the whole admissible region, we derive convolution identities for parameter derivatives and prove that increasing either normalized parameter destroys positivity at every zero of a nonnegative density. Combined with uniform tail estimates, this excludes gaps in the admissible parameter intervals and gives a continuous, strictly monotone optimal boundary. Global nonnegativity of the density and contact with zero characterize that boundary; its inverse determines the complete admissible interval for the second parameter. The characterization is implicit and requires neither uniqueness nor nondegeneracy of the contact points. Published numerical approximations of the one-parameter exponent are distinguished from the exact results and from the finite rational certificate used in the proofs. We also derive a variational formula and a rigorous framework for validated numerical enclosure of the boundary, and formulate a boundary-contact conjecture asserting uniqueness and quadratic contact at every interior boundary point.