From Inverse Vandermonde Matrices to the Shift Structure of the Dirichlet Eta and Beta Functions

Abstract

We investigate the asymptotic behavior of the inverse of Vandermonde matrices with nodes drawn from the quadratic sequences u n = n 2 and u n = (n -1 2 ) 2 . We derive new limiting formulas for the entries of the inverses, expressed through the even and odd central factorial numbers. These formulas are then used to study the asymptotic behavior of a ratio of determinants involving a modified Vandermonde matrix. For each node sequence, the corresponding determinant ratio converges uniformly on compact subsets of the complex plane to an explicit expression involving the Dirichlet eta or beta function. We then study a family of related functions and, using an inversion theorem, exhibit their shift structure: the shifted values of the eta and beta functions are recovered as finite linear combinations of the family, which yields an integral form of these values as integrals of polynomials related to the Bernoulli and Euler polynomials against generalized (half-)Clausen functions. A unified form of the shift representation, valid for an arbitrary base point z with Re(z) > 0, brings the eta and beta families under a single theorem. On the critical line the representation is unitary and the values on the two sides are complex conjugates.