Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T14:06:10.061Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Liouville-Green expansions of exponential form, with an application to modified Bessel functions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2019

T. M. Dunster*
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA92182-7720, USA (mdunster@sdsu.edu)

Abstract

Linear second order differential equations of the form d2w/dz2 − {u2f(u, z) + g(z)}w = 0 are studied, where |u| → ∞ and z lies in a complex bounded or unbounded domain D. If f(u, z) and g(z) are meromorphic in D, and f(u, z) has no zeros, the classical Liouville-Green/WKBJ approximation provides asymptotic expansions involving the exponential function. The coefficients in these expansions either multiply the exponential or in an alternative form appear in the exponent. The latter case has applications to the simplification of turning point expansions as well as certain quantum mechanics problems, and new computable error bounds are derived. It is shown how these bounds can be sharpened to provide realistic error estimates, and this is illustrated by an application to modified Bessel functions of complex argument and large positive order. Explicit computable error bounds are also derived for asymptotic expansions for particular solutions of the nonhomogeneous equations of the form d2w/dz2 − {u2f(z) + g(z)}w = p(z).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 The Royal Society of Edinburgh

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1Boyd, W. G. C. and Dunster, T. M.. Uniform asymptotic solutions of a class of second-order linear differential equations having a turning point and a regular singularity, with an application to Legendre functions. SIAM J. Math. Anal. 17 (1986), 422450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2Dunster, T. M.. Uniform asymptotic solutions of second-order linear differential equations having a simple pole and a coalescing turning point in the complex plane. SIAM J. Math. Anal. 25 (1994), 322353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3Dunster, T. M.. Asymptotics of the eigenvalues of a rotating harmonic oscillator. J. Comp. Appl. Math. 93 (1998), 4573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4Dunster, T. M., Gil, A. and Segura, J.. Computation of asymptotic expansions of turning point problems via Cauchy's integral formula: Bessel functions. Constr. Approx. 46 (2017), 645675.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5Moriguchi, H.. An improvement of the WKB method in the presence of turning points and the asymptotic solutions of a class of Hill equations. J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 14 (1959), 17711796.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6Olver, F. W. J.. Error bounds for asymptotic expansions in turning-point problems. J. Soc. Indust. Appl. Math. 12 (1964), 200214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7Olver, F. W. J.. Second-order linear differential equations with two turning points. Philos. Trans. Roy. Soc. London Ser. A 278 (1975), 137174.Google Scholar
8Olver, F. W. J.. Asymptotics and special functions (Wellesley, MA: A. K. Peters, 1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar