A Cauchy kernel for slice regular functions (Q963262)

Let \(\mathbb H\) be the real associative algebra of quaternions with respect to the basis \(\{1,i,j,k\}\). The symbol \(\mathbb S\) indicates the 2-sphere of purely imaginary unit quaternions, i.e., \[ \mathbb S=\big\{q=ix_1+jx_2+kx_3|x_1^2+x_2^2+x_3^2=1,x_l\in\mathbb R\big\}, \] and we use the fact that any real quaternion \(q\) can be written in a unique way as \(q=x+yI\) with \(x,y,\in\mathbb R\), \(y>0\) and \(I\in\mathbb S\). Set \[ I_q=\begin{cases} \frac{\text{Im}(q)}{|\text{Im}(q)|} \quad\text{if\,\,\(\text{Im}(q)\neq0\)};\\ \text{any element of \(\mathbb S\) otherwise.} \end{cases} \] For \(R>0\), let \(B(0,R)=\{q\in\mathbb H:|q|<R\}\) be the open ball of radius \(R\) of \(\mathbb H\). Let \(f:B(0,R)\to\mathbb H\) be a slice regular function and let \(q=x+ yI_q\in B(0,R)\). Then the Cauchy formula for slice regular quaternionic functions states that \[ f(q)=\frac{1}{2\pi}\int_{\partial\Delta_q(0,r)}(\zeta-q)^{-1}\, d\zeta_{I_q}f(\zeta),\tag{1} \] where \(d\zeta_{I_q}=-I_qd\zeta\) and \(r>0\) is such that \(\overline{\Delta_q(0,r)}:=\{x+I_qy\,|\,x^2+y^2\leq r^2\}\) contains \(q\) and is contained in \(B(0,R)\). It is easy to prove that the function \(g(\zeta)=(\zeta-q)^{-1}\) is not regular unless \(q\in\mathbb R\). It is important at the same time to notice that the function \(g\) is effectively used only in the complex plane \(L_{I_q}\), which contains the point \(q\). One may wonder if it is possible to consider a variation of the Cauchy formula (1) in which the corresponding kernel is regular and the path of integration does not depend on the plane \(L_{I_q}\) to which the point \(q\) belongs. The main results in this article show that both questions have affirmative answers. The key tool used to obtain these results is the function \[ -(q^2-2q\text{Re}[s]+|s|^2)^{-1}(q-{\overline s}), \] which turns out to be the regular inverse \((s-q)^{-\ast}\) of \(R_s(q)=(s-q)\). The function \((s-q)^{-\ast}\) is, actually, the unique slice regular extension of \((s-q)^{-1}\) (in the variable \(q\)) out of \(L_{I_q}\) and is called the non-commutative Cauchy kernel. In particular, as a first significant step, formula (1) can be rewritten in terms of the non-commutative Cauchy kernel as \[ f(q)=\frac{1}{2\pi}\int_{\partial\Delta_q(0,r)}(\zeta-q)^{-1}\, d\zeta_{I_q}f(\zeta)=\frac{1}{2\pi}\int_{\partial\Delta_q(0, r)}(\zeta-q)^{-\ast}\,d\zeta_{I_q}f(\zeta).\tag{2} \] The new Cauchy formula holds naturally for domains -- called axially symmetric slice domains -- which intersect the real axis and are invariant under the action of purely imaginary rotations in \(\mathbb H\): {Theorem 1.} Let \(\Omega\subseteq\mathbb H\) be an axially symmetric slice domain such that \(\partial(\Omega\cap L_I)\) is the union of a finite number of rectifiable Jordan arcs. Let \(f\) be a regular function on \(\Omega'\supset\overline\Omega\) and, for any \(I\in\mathbb S\), set \(ds_I=-Ids\). Then, for every \(q\in\Omega\), we have: \[ f(q)=\frac{1}{2\pi}\int_{\partial\Omega\cap L_I)} -(q^2-2q\text{Re}[s]+|s|^2)^{-1}(q-{\overline s})\, ds_{I}f(s). \] Moreover, the value of the integral depends neither on \(\Omega\) nor on the imaginary unit \(I\in\mathbb S\). On axially symmetric slice domains, indeed, the proof of the Cauchy formula is achieved by means of the following representation formula, which is another crucial result obtained in the article. {Theorem 2.} Let \(f\) be a regular function on an axially symmetric slice domain \(\Omega\subseteq\mathbb H\). Choose any \(J\in\mathbb S\). Then the following equality holds for all \(q=x+yI\in\Omega\): \[ f(x+yI)=\frac{1}{2}\Big[f(x+yJ)+f(x-yJ)\Big]+I\frac{1}{2}\Big[J[f(x-yJ)-f(x+yJ)]\Big]. \] The authors present several other consequent results and find an expression of the derivatives of a regular function in terms of the powers of the regular Cauchy kernel.