Pre Stieltjes Functions

In this paper we characterize the class C_k{{mathcal{C}_k}} of functions f on (0,∞) for which f(x), . . . ,(x ^k f(x))^(k) are completely monotonic for given k. In the limit we obtain the well-known characterization of the class of Stieltjes functions as those functions f defined on the positive half line for which (x ^k f(x))^(k) is completely monotonic on (0,∞) for all k ≥ 0.