Integral of a logarithm using residues

Dixanadu
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Homework Statement


Hey everyone,

So here's the problem, nice and simple. I have to find the following integral:
\int_{0}^{\infty} \frac{x^{p}ln(x)}{x^{2}+1}dx, 0<p<1

Homework Equations



The only thing relevant is the residue theorem:
\oint_{c}f(z)=2\pi i \times sum of residues enclosed

The Attempt at a Solution


So I've gone through it using a branch cut so that 0&lt;\theta&lt;2\pi. I then replaced x with z=re^{i(\theta + 2in\pi)}, setting n = 0 when integrating from 0 to infinity for Im(z)>0, then setting n = 1 when integrating from infinity back to 0 when Im(z)<0. Then I get this:

I=-\pi^{2}/2 \frac{cos(\pi p/2)}{sin(\pi p)e^{i\pi p}}

Of course I can simplify it but its definitely wrong cos its negative, and there is a dependence on a complex exponential...so what have I done wrong? Am I even supposed to be using a branch cut or is it enough to do this with a contour indented at the singularity z = i in the upper half of the complex plane...? I don't see how that would work though, I am pretty sure branch cut is the way to go, but I get this...
 
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Dixanadu said:

Homework Statement


Hey everyone,

So here's the problem, nice and simple. I have to find the following integral:
\int_{0}^{\infty} \frac{x^{p}ln(x)}{x^{2}+1}dx, 0&lt;p&lt;1

Homework Equations



The only thing relevant is the residue theorem:
\oint_{c}f(z)=2\pi i \times sum of residues enclosed

The Attempt at a Solution


So I've gone through it using a branch cut so that 0&lt;\theta&lt;2\pi. I then replaced x with z=re^{i(\theta + 2in\pi)}, setting n = 0 when integrating from 0 to infinity for Im(z)>0, then setting n = 1 when integrating from infinity back to 0 when Im(z)<0. Then I get this:

I=-\pi^{2}/2 \frac{cos(\pi p/2)}{sin(\pi p)e^{i\pi p}}

Of course I can simplify it but its definitely wrong cos its negative, and there is a dependence on a complex exponential...so what have I done wrong? Am I even supposed to be using a branch cut or is it enough to do this with a contour indented at the singularity z = i in the upper half of the complex plane...? I don't see how that would work though, I am pretty sure branch cut is the way to go, but I get this...

Suppose we did some work and we ended up with the integral:

\int_0^{\infty} \frac{r^p}{1+r^2} dr,\quad 0&lt;p&lt;1

Can you compute that by contour integration over a key-hole contour with the key-slot along the negative real axis?

First though, solve:

\int_0^{\infty} \frac{\sqrt{r}}{1+r^2} dr

then:

\int_0^{\infty} \frac{r^{1/3}}{1+r^2} dr

then try to solve it for the general case, then we can go back and set up the original problem.
 
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There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
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