For $x\in ℂ$, $\left|x\right|\<1$, $s\in \mathbb{N}$, let ${\mathrm{Li}}_s\left(x\right)$ be the $s$-th polylogarithm of $x$. We prove that for any non-zero algebraic number $\alpha$ such that $\left|\alpha \right|\<1$, the $\mathbb{Q}\left(\alpha \right)$-vector space spanned by $1,{\mathrm{Li}}_1\left(\alpha \right),{\mathrm{Li}}_2\left(\alpha \right),\cdots$ has infinite dimension. This result extends a previous one by Rivoal for rational $\alpha$. The main tool is a method introduced by Fischler and Rivoal, which shows the coefficients of the polylogarithms in the relevant series to be the unique solution of a suitable Padé approximation problem.

The main object of this paper is to investigate several general families of hypergeometric polynomials and their associated multiple integral representations. By suitably specializing our main results, the corresponding integral representations are deduced for such familiar classes of hypergeometric polynomials as (for example) the generalized Bedient polynomials of the first and second kinds. Each of the integral representations, which are derived in this paper, may be viewed also as a linearization...