Multiple Zeta Values, Padé Approximation and Vasilyev’s Conjecture

Sorokin gave in 1996 a new proof that π is transcendental. It is based on a simultaneous Padé approximation problem involving certain multiple polylogarithms, which evaluated at the point 1 are multiple zeta values equal to powers of π. In this paper we construct a Padé approximation problem of the same flavour, and prove that it has a unique solution up to proportionality. At the point 1, this provides a rational linear combination of 1 and multiple zeta values in an extended sense that turn out to be values of the Riemann ζ function at odd integers. As an application, we obtain a new proof of Vasilyev’s conjecture for any odd weight, concerning the explicit evaluation of certain hypergeometric multiple integrals; it was first proved by Zudilin in 2003.