Paper 2, Section II, D

Asymptotic Methods
Part II, 2020

(a) Let δ>0\delta>0 and x0Rx_{0} \in \mathbb{R}. Let {ϕn(x)}n=0\left\{\phi_{n}(x)\right\}_{n=0}^{\infty} be a sequence of (real) functions that are nonzero for all xx with 0<xx0<δ0<\left|x-x_{0}\right|<\delta, and let {an}n=0\left\{a_{n}\right\}_{n=0}^{\infty} be a sequence of nonzero real numbers. For every N=0,1,2,N=0,1,2, \ldots, the function f(x)f(x) satisfies

f(x)n=0Nanϕn(x)=o(ϕN(x)), as xx0f(x)-\sum_{n=0}^{N} a_{n} \phi_{n}(x)=o\left(\phi_{N}(x)\right), \quad \text { as } \quad x \rightarrow x_{0}

(i) Show that ϕn+1(x)=o(ϕn(x))\phi_{n+1}(x)=o\left(\phi_{n}(x)\right), for all n=0,1,2,n=0,1,2, \ldots; i.e., {ϕn(x)}n=0\left\{\phi_{n}(x)\right\}_{n=0}^{\infty} is an asymptotic sequence.

(ii) Show that for any N=0,1,2,N=0,1,2, \ldots, the functions ϕ0(x),ϕ1(x),,ϕN(x)\phi_{0}(x), \phi_{1}(x), \ldots, \phi_{N}(x) are linearly independent on their domain of definition.

(b) Let

I(ε)=0(1+εt)2e(1+ε)tdt, for ε>0I(\varepsilon)=\int_{0}^{\infty}(1+\varepsilon t)^{-2} e^{-(1+\varepsilon) t} d t, \quad \text { for } \varepsilon>0

(i) Find an asymptotic expansion (not necessarily a power series) of I(ε)I(\varepsilon), as ε0+\varepsilon \rightarrow 0^{+}.

(ii) Find the first four terms of the expansion of I(ε)I(\varepsilon) into an asymptotic power series of ε\varepsilon, that is, with error o(ε3)o\left(\varepsilon^{3}\right) as ε0+\varepsilon \rightarrow 0^{+}.