An integral arising from the inverse Fourier transform

fluidistic
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Homework Statement


For a physics problem I must take the inverse Fourier transform of 2 functions.
Namely I must compute the integral ##\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi}}\int_{-\infty} ^\infty [A\cos (ckt)+B\sin (ckt)]e^{ikx}dk##.

Homework Equations


Already given.
i is the complex number. t is greater or equal to 0. In fact it could also be negative, there should be no problem.

The Attempt at a Solution


So I tried to tackle ##\int _{-\infty} ^\infty \cos (ckt)e^{ikx}dk## first but ran out of ideas.
Integration by parts does not look promising. Probably some substitution I guess but I don't see it. Any tip would be appreciated.
 
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Look into the integral representation of the Dirac delta function.
 
vela said:
Look into the integral representation of the Dirac delta function.

Hi and thanks for the tip vela. I have it under the eyes (http://dlmf.nist.gov/1.17), but I don't see how this can help.
Edit: I rewrote ##A\cos (ckt)+B\sin (ckt)## as ##Ae^{ickt}+Be^{-ickt}## which makes the integral diverge.
 
Last edited:
The integrals don't converge in the normal sense, but you can use 1.17.12 to recognize the appearance of the delta function.
 
If you don't find that approach satisfying, you can try throwing in a convergence factor and then taking a limit:
$$\lim_{\lambda \to 0^+} \int_{-\infty}^\infty \cos (ckt) e^{ikx} e^{-\lambda |k|}\,dk$$ You have to be a bit careful when taking the limit so that you end up with the delta functions.
 
Thanks a lot! It does satisfy me. So the answer would be ##A\delta (ct+x)+B\delta (ct-x)## where A and B are not necessarily the constants I started with.
I hope it's right.
 
I just found out the solution to the problem. Apparently A and B depend on k (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/WaveEquation1-Dimensional.html), I missed this. The answer should be f(x-ct)+f(x+ct) instead of the delta. f could be any function twice differentiable I think, thus the delta is a possibility.
P.S.:I made a typo in my previous post. The argument of the second delta should be "x-ct".
 
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