Uniform asymptotic expansions of symmetric elliptic integrals (Q5952000)

The article under review deals with complete convergent expansions of the three symmetric standard elliptic integrals \[ \begin{aligned} R_F(x,y,z)&={1\over 2} \int_0^{\infty} {dt \over \sqrt{(t+x)(t+y)(t+z)}}, \\ R_D(x,y,z)&={3\over 2} \int_0^{\infty} {dt \over \sqrt{(t+x)(t+y)(t+z)^3}}, \\ R_J(x,y,z,p)&={3\over 2} \int_0^{\infty} {dt \over \sqrt{(t+x)(t+y)(t+z)}(t+p)}, \end{aligned} \] for \(x,y,z,(p)\) nonnegative, distinct real numbers. Using the distributional approach [\textit{R. Wong}, Asymptotic Approximations of Integrals. (Academic Press, NY) (1989; Zbl 0679.41001)] seven convergent expansions for the above elliptic integrals are proved. A typical example of such an expansion reads \[ \begin{aligned} R_F(x,az,bz)= &{1\over 2} \sqrt{{\pi \over abx}}\, \sum_{k=0}^{n-1}\biggl[ {(k-1)! A_k(a,b)x^k \over \Gamma(k+{1\over 2})z^k} +{({1\over 2})_k \sqrt{\pi b}\, x^{k+1/2} \over k!a^k z^{k+1/2}} F\biggl( {k+{1\over 2},{1\over 2}\atop 1}\biggm| 1-{b\over a}\biggr)\biggr]\\ &+R_n(x,az,bz), \end{aligned} \tag{1} \] for \(0\leq x\leq az\leq bz\), \(0<az\) and \(n\) a positive integer. Here \(F={_2}F_1\) is the Gauss hypergeometric function, \((a)_n=a(a+1)\cdots (a+n-1)=\Gamma(a+n)/\Gamma(a)\) is a shifted factorial, \[ A_k(a,b)=-\sum_{j=0}^{k-1} {({1\over 2})_j({1\over 2})_{k-j-1} \over j!(k-j-1)! a^j b^{k-j-1}} \] (\(A_0(a,b)=0\)), and \[ 0\leq -R_n(x,az,bz)\leq {\sqrt{\pi}(n-1)!| A_n(a,b)| x^n \over 2\sqrt{abx}\,\Gamma(n+{1\over 2})z^n}. \] The seven expansions derived in the paper generalize earlier first-order approximations of \textit{B. C. Carlson} and \textit{J. C. Gustafson} [SIAM J. Math. Anal. 25, 288--303 (1994; Zbl 0794.41021)] and complement expansions by \textit{B. C. Carlson} [Rend. Semin. Mat., Torino, Fasc. Spec., 63--89 (1985; Zbl 0606.33004)]. Remark: It is somewhat unfortunate that the author has not always simplified his main results. For example, the expansion (1) does of course only depend on \(a\), \(b\) and \(z\) through the products \(az\) and \(bz\). Moreover, in the second term in square brackets the hypergeometric function has been used but not in the first term, despite the fact that for \(k\geq 1\) \[ A_k(a,b)=-{b^{1-k}({1\over 2})_{k-1}\over (k-1)!} F\biggl({1-k,{1\over 2}\atop {3\over 2}-k}\biggm| {b\over a}\biggr) =-{b^{1-k}\Gamma(k+{1\over 2})\over \sqrt{\pi} (k-1)!(k-{1\over 2})} F\biggl({1-k,{1\over 2}\atop {3\over 2}-k}\biggm| {b\over a}\biggr), \] cancelling several terms in (1).