Integral Transforms and Special Functions Vol. 20, No. 9, September 2009, 673–686 The discrete universality of the periodic Hurwitz zeta function A. Laurinˇ cikas a * and R. Macaitien˙ e b a Vilnius University, Naugarduko 24 03225,Vilnius, Lithuania; b Šiauliai University, Višinskio 19 77156, Šiauliai, Lithuania (Received 11 November 2007 ) The periodic Hurwitz zeta function ζ(s,α; A), s = σ + it,0 1, is defined, for σ> 1, by ζ(s,α; A) = m=0 a m /(m + α) s and by analytic continuation elsewhere. Here {a m } is a periodic sequence of complex numbers. In this paper, a discrete universality theorem for the function ζ(s,α; A) with a transcendental parameter α is proved. Roughly speaking, this means that every analytic function can be approximated uniformly on compact sets by shifts ζ(s + imh, α; A), where m is a non-negative integer and h is a fixed positive number such that exp{2π/h} is rational. Keywords: periodic Hurwitz zeta function; limit theorem; universality 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 11M41; 60F17; 33E20 1. Introduction Let A ={a m : m N 0 }, where N 0 denotes a set of all non-negative integers, be a periodic sequence of complex numbers with minimal period k N. The periodic Hurwitz zeta function ζ(s,α; A), s = σ + it, with parameter α,0 1, is defined, for σ> 1, by ζ(s,α; A) = m=0 a m (m + α) s . The periodicity of the sequence A implies, for σ> 1, the equality ζ(s,α; A) = 1 k s k1 l =0 a l ζ s, k + α k , (1) *Corresponding author. Email: antanas.laurincikas@maf.vu.lt ISSN 1065-2469 print/ISSN 1476-8291 online © 2009 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/10652460902742788 http://www.informaworld.com