Complete monotonicity properties of a function involving the polygamma function

Abstract

In this paper, we study completete monotonicity properties of the function $f_{a,k}(x)=\psi^{(k)}(x+a) - \psi^{(k)}(x) - \frac{ak!}{x^{k+1}}$, where $a\in(0,1)$ and $k\in \mathbb{N}_0$. Specifically, we consider the cases for $k\in \{ 2n: n\in \mathbb{N}_0 \}$ and $k\in \{ 2n+1: n\in \mathbb{N}_0 \}$. Subsequently, we deduce some inequalities involving the polygamma functions.