Let erfi(x) be the imaginary error function
erfi(x)=2√π∫x0ez2dz.
Consider the integral
I=∫∞0sin(x) erfi(√x) e−x√2xdx.
Its numeric value is approximately 0.625773669454426…
Is it possible to express I in a closed form using only elementary functions, integers and constants π, e?
Answer
My strategy here is to use Parseval's equality to express the integral in a simpler form. This requires a strategic splitting of the integrand into Fourier transforms.
Begin by writing
erfi(√x)=2√π√x∫10dtext2
and consider the following Fourier Transform:
∫∞−∞dxθ(x)erfi(√x)e−√2xeikx
where θ(x) is the Heaviside step function, which is 1 when x>0 and 0 when x<0. Using a change in the order of integration, we may evaluate this Fourier transform in exact form:
∫∞0dxerfi(√x)e−√2xeikx=2√π∫10dt∫∞0dx√xext2e−√2xeikx=2√π∫10dt∫∞0dx√xe−(√2−t2−ik)x=∫10dt(√2−ik−t2)3/2=1√2−ik1√√2−1−ik
Note that the third line comes from the integral
∫∞0dx√xe−ax=√π2a3/2
The result in the fourth line may be obtained using a trig substitution in the integral in the third line; the only trick is pretending that √2−ik may be set to some b2 parameter, and then proceeding with the usual trig substitution.
Now, the rest of the original integrand is sinx/x, which Fourier transform is simply π when |k|<1 and 0 otherwise. We may then invoke Parseval's equality, which states that, for functions f and g and their respective Fourier transforms F and G, we have
∫∞−∞dxf(x)g(x)=12π∫∞−∞dkF(k)G(k)
Here,
f(x)=erfi(√x)e−√2xθ(x)
g(x)=sinxx
F(k)=1√2−ik1√√2−1−ik
G(k)={π|k|<10k>1
Thus, we have reduced the integral to the evaluation of the following:
12∫1−1dk√2−ik1√√2−1−ik
Now sub v2=√2−1−ik and get the following integral
−i∫√√2−1+i√√2−1−idv1+v2
which evaluates to
−i[arctan√√2−1+i−arctan√√2−1−i]
which is equal to
tanh−1(√2(1−√2+√4−2√2)1+√4−2√2)
or
12log[1+√4−2√2+√2(1−√2+√4−2√2)1+√4−2√2−√2(1−√2+√4−2√2)]≈0.625774
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