The swallowtail integral in the highly oscillatory region. II (Q2303347): Difference between revisions

This paper deals with the asymptotic expansion of the swallowtail integral \[ \int_{-\infty}^\infty e^{i(t^5+xt^3+yt^2+zt)}dt \] when $y=|y|e^{i\theta}$ as $|y|\to\infty$ with $x$ and $z$ fixed. By rotation of the integration path through the angle $\pi/10$, the integral is expressed in terms of the entire function \[ S(x',y',z')=\int_0^\infty e^{-u^5+x'u^3+y'u^2+z'u}du, \] where $x'$, $y'$, $z'$ are equal to $x$, $y$, $z$ multiplied by certain phase factors. The authors employ their simplified version of the method of steepest descents in which, after the change of variable $u=t(2|y|/3)^{1/3}$, the phase function $e^{i\theta}u^2-2u^5/5$ is suitably approximated near the saddle points with the consequence that the steepest descent paths become straight lines. Different integration paths for $S$ emanating from the origin and passing to $+\infty$ are chosen according to the value of $\theta=\arg y$. The various integrals along these straight line paths are evaluated by term-by-term integration after expansion of the rest of the exponential factor in the integrand of $S$ as a power series. It is shown that there are four sectors in the complex $y$-plane (determined by Stokes lines) where the swallowtail integral has different large-$y$ behaviour. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the accuracy of the expansions so obtained. For Part I, see [the authors, Appl. Math. Comput. 339, 837--845 (2018; Zbl 1428.33042)].