On the Van Vleck Theorem for Limit-Periodic Continued Fractions of General Form

The boundary properties of functions representable as limit-periodic continued fractions of the form $A_1(z)/(B_1(z)+A_2(z)/(B_2(z)+\dots ))$ are studied; here the sequence of polynomials $\{A_n\}_{n=1}^\infty$ has periodic limits with zeros lying on a finite set $E$, and the sequence of polynomials $\{B_n\}_{n=1}^\infty$ has periodic limits with zeros lying outside $E$. It is shown that the transfinite diameter of the boundary of the convergence domain of such a continued fraction in the external field associated with the fraction coincides with the upper limit of the averaged generalized Hankel determinants of the function defined by the fraction. As a consequence of this result combined with the generalized Pólya theorem, it is shown that the functions defined by the continued fractions under consideration do not have a single-valued meromorphic continuation to any neighborhood of any nonisolated point of the boundary of the convergence set.