The evaluation of a weighted sum of Gauss hypergeometric functions and its connection with Galton-Watson processes

Abstract: We evaluate the sum of Gauss hypergeometric functions [S(\mu,c;x)=\sum_{k\geq 0} \bl(\frac{1-x}{1+\mu}\br)^k\,{}_2F_1(\fs k+\fs, \fs k+1;c;x)] for $x\in [-1,1]$ and positive parameters $\mu$ and $c$. The domain of absolute convergence of this series is established by determining the growth of the hypergeometric function for $k\to+\infty$. An application to Galton-Watson branching processes arising in the theory of stochastic processes is presented. A new class of positive integer-valued distributions with power tails is introduced.