State Watson's lemma, describing the asymptotic behaviour of the integral
I(λ)=∫0Ae−λtf(t)dt,A>0
as λ→∞, given that f(t) has the asymptotic expansion
f(t)∼n=0∑∞antnβ
as t→0+, where β>0.
Consider the integral
J(λ)=∫abeλϕ(t)F(t)dt,
where λ≫1 and ϕ(t) has a unique maximum in the interval [a,b] at c, with a<c<b, such that
ϕ′(c)=0,ϕ′′(c)<0.
By using the change of variable from t to ζ, defined by
ϕ(t)−ϕ(c)=−ζ2
deduce an asymptotic expansion for J(λ) as λ→∞. Show that the leading-order term gives
J(λ)∼eλϕ(c)F(c)(λ∣ϕ′′(c)∣2π)21
The gamma function Γ(x) is defined for x>0 by
Γ(x)=∫0∞e(x−1)logt−tdt
By means of the substitution t=(x−1)s, or otherwise, deduce that
Γ(x+1)∼x(x+21)e−x2π(1+12x1+…)
as x→∞