Improper integral using the Residue Theorem

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
2 replies · 7K views
Messages
1,016
Reaction score
0
I'm trying to find

[tex]\int\limits_0^{ + \infty } {\frac{{\sin x}}<br /> {{x^3 + x}}dx}[/tex]

Since the function is even, I can compute it as

[tex]\frac{1}<br /> {2}\int\limits_{ - \infty }^{ + \infty } {\frac{{\sin x}}<br /> {{x^3 + x}}dx}[/tex]

To use the residue theorem, I construct a large semi-circle C with center O and radius R. To avoid the real singularity at x = 0, we construct another (small) semi-circle c with radius r. The closed path is then given by C + [-R,-r] + c + [r,R]. We then let R go to infinity and r to 0. So we have:

[tex]\oint {\frac{{\sin x}}<br /> {{x^3 + x}}dx} = \int\limits_C {\frac{{\sin x}}<br /> {{x^3 + x}}dx} + \int\limits_c {\frac{{\sin x}}<br /> {{x^3 + x}}dx} + \int\limits_{ - R}^{ - r} {\frac{{\sin x}}<br /> {{x^3 + x}}} dx + \int\limits_r^R {\frac{{\sin x}}<br /> {{x^3 + x}}} dx[/tex]

From the residue theorem, I found the LHS to be [itex]\pi \sinh 1[/itex], by applying the theorem to the only enclosed pole i.
Then, taking the limits or R and r to inf and 0, I found the integral over C to be 0 and over c to be [itex]-\pi[/itex] which results in:

[tex]\int\limits_{ - \infty }^{ + \infty } {\frac{{\sin x}}<br /> {{x^3 + x}}} dx = \pi \sinh 1 + \pi[/tex]

Now that appears to be too large, does anyone know what mistake(s) I made or what I should do? Thanks!
 
Physics news on Phys.org
A couple mistakes, the integral over C does not go to zero and there's no pole at x=0, so the integral over c will go to zero.

It's probably easiest to replace sin(x) with [tex]e^{ix}[/tex], which is bounded in the upper half plane, making the integral over C much easier to deal with, though you'll now have a pole at z=0.
 
shmoe said:
A couple mistakes, the integral over C does not go to zero and there's no pole at x=0, so the integral over c will go to zero.

It's probably easiest to replace sin(x) with [tex]e^{ix}[/tex], which is bounded in the upper half plane, making the integral over C much easier to deal with, though you'll now have a pole at z=0.

There is indeed a pole at z=0, by Jordan's... but you only need to worry about when doing exactly that kind of problem. If I'm not mistaken you have to set the LHS to Im(2*pi*i*Resi (eiz/(z3+z))