How Do You Solve This Challenging Integral Involving a Modified Bessel Function?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around solving a challenging integral involving a modified Bessel function. Participants explore the properties of the function defined by the integral and seek to find a primitive or evaluate specific integrals related to the function.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Mathematical reasoning
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant defines the function g(X,Y) as g(X,Y)=exp(-f(X,Y)), where f(X,Y) involves parameters a, b, and c.
  • Another participant questions whether the integral has an "elementary" primitive, citing the case where a=-1 and b=c=0 leads to a non-elementary integral.
  • A participant clarifies the definition of f(X,Y) and provides a transformation for the integral I(X), indicating a change of variables to simplify the expression.
  • Further transformations are proposed, including a trigonometric substitution, but the participant expresses difficulty in progressing from that point.
  • One participant claims to have found the answer, identifying the integral as related to the "modified Bessel function of second kind," but does not provide further details or verification.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the existence of an elementary primitive for the integral. There are multiple competing views regarding the nature of the integral and the transformations applied, and the discussion remains unresolved.

Contextual Notes

Some assumptions about the parameters a, b, and c are not fully explored, and the implications of these choices on the integrals are not resolved. The transformations proposed may depend on specific conditions that are not clearly stated.

loloPF
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Funky integral!

This integral is driving me nuts :cry: , anyone got a clue?
Given two real variables X and Y, one defines the function:
f(X,Y)=sqrt(a*(X+cY)^2+b*(X-cY)^2)
where a, b and c are reals and a>0, b>0.
Then the function g is defined as:
g(X,Y)=exp(-f(X,Y))
I am looking for:
1- a primitive for g
2- and/or the value of the following integrals I=integral(-infty,+infty;g(X,Y),dX) and J=integral(-infty,+infty;g(X,Y),dY).
 
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Do you have any reason to believe it has an "elementary" primitive?

If you take a=-1, b= c= 0, you have
[tex]f(x,y)= e^{-x^2}[/tex]
which certainly does NOT have a primitive that can be written in terms of elementary functions. It can of course be written as [itex]2\pi Erf(x)[/tex] where Erf(x) is the error function- but it's not "elementary", it is <b>defined</b> as <br /> [tex]\frac{1}{2\pi}\int e^{-x^2}dx[/tex][/itex]
 
You are right HallsofIvy and the answer to your question is: "No I do not.", this is why my second point starts with: "and/or [...]".
I have made some (but little) progress on this and I'll let you know in a coming post where I stand now.
 
HallsofIvy, you might have missed the square root in the definition of f:
[tex]f(X,Y)=\sqrt{a(cY+X)^2+b(cY-X)^2}[/tex]

Definition:
[tex]I(X)=\int_{-\infty}^{\infty} e^{-f(X,Y)}dY[/tex]
Changes of variable:
first [tex]u=cY+X[/tex]
then [tex]v=u\sqrt{a+b}[/tex]
and [tex]w=v-\frac{2bX}{\sqrt{a+b}}[/tex]
leading to:
[tex]I(X)=\frac{1}{c\sqrt{a+b}}\int_{-\infty}^{\infty} e^{-\sqrt{w^2+4X^2\frac{ab}{a+b}}}dw[/tex]

I am now considering a trig transformation:
[tex]w=2|X|\sqrt{\frac{ab}{a+b}}tan(\theta)[/tex]
to get rid of the square root but I am then stuck again
 
I just found the answer: this integral is well known as the "modified Bessel function of second kind", period.
 

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