The resurgence properties of the Hankel and Bessel functions of nearly equal order and argument (Q889953)

The asymptotic expansions of the Hankel and Bessel functions derived by Nicholson and Deby for nearly equal order and argument are revisited in this paper. By using the reformulation of the method of steepest descents of Berry and Howls, the author derives suitable integral representations for the remainders of Nicholson and Deby's expansions and also for the remainders of the related expansions of the derivatives of the Hankel and Bessel functions. These integral representations are given, precisely, in terms of the Hankel functions of imaginary argument and then the author denominates them ``resurgence-type integral representations''. Resurgence-type integral representations of the coefficients of the expansions are also given. Using these integral representations, the author derives computable error bounds for the remainders. For the particular case, when the order equals the argument, the error bounds are quite realistic and related to the first neglected term of the expansion. The author also gives asymptotic expansions of the \(n\)th coefficient of Nicholson and Deby's expansions for large \(n\), solving in this way a problem settled by Watson. Exponentially improved asymptotic expansions are also derived. Finally, the author analyzes the Stokes phenomenon and the appearance of the error function in the smoothing of the Stokes phenomenon as described by Berry.