Ramanujan's master theorem

In mathematics, Ramanujan's master theorem (named after Srinivasa Ramanujan[1]) is a technique that provides an analytic expression for the Mellin transform of an analytic function.

Page from Ramanujan's notebook stating his Master theorem.

The result is stated as follows:

If a complex-valued function ${\displaystyle f(x)}$ has an expansion of the form

${\displaystyle f(x)=\sum _{k=0}^{\infty }{\frac {\,\varphi (k)\,}{k!}}(-x)^{k}}$

then the Mellin transform of ${\displaystyle f(x)}$ is given by

${\displaystyle \int _{0}^{\infty }x^{s-1}\,f(x)\,\operatorname {d} x=\Gamma (s)\,\varphi (-s)}$

where ${\displaystyle \Gamma (s)}$ is the gamma function.

It was widely used by Ramanujan to calculate definite integrals and infinite series.

Higher-dimensional versions of this theorem also appear in quantum physics (through Feynman diagrams).[2]

A similar result was also obtained by Glaisher.[3]

Alternative formalism

An alternative formulation of Ramanujan's master theorem is as follows:

${\displaystyle \int _{0}^{\infty }x^{s-1}\,\left(\,\lambda (0)-x\,\lambda (1)+x^{2}\,\lambda (2)-\,\cdots \,\right)\,\operatorname {d} x={\frac {\pi }{\,\sin(\pi s)\,}}\,\lambda (-s)}$

which gets converted to the above form after substituting ${\displaystyle \lambda (n)\equiv {\frac {\varphi (n)}{\,\Gamma (1+n)\,}}}$ and using the functional equation for the gamma function.

The integral above is convergent for ${\displaystyle 0<{\mathcal {Re}}(s)<1}$ subject to growth conditions on ${\displaystyle \varphi }$.[4]

Proof

A proof subject to "natural" assumptions (though not the weakest necessary conditions) to Ramanujan's Master theorem was provided by G. H. Hardy[5] employing the residue theorem and the well-known Mellin inversion theorem.

Application to Bernoulli polynomials

The generating function of the Bernoulli polynomials ${\displaystyle B_{k}(x)}$ is given by:

${\displaystyle {\frac {z\,e^{x\,z}}{\,e^{z}-1\,}}=\sum _{k=0}^{\infty }B_{k}(x)\,{\frac {z^{k}}{k!}}}$

These polynomials are given in terms of the Hurwitz zeta function:

${\displaystyle \zeta (s,a)=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\frac {1}{\,(n+a)^{s}\,}}}$

by ${\displaystyle ~\zeta (1-n,a)=-{\frac {B_{n}(a)}{n}}~}$ for ${\displaystyle ~n\geq 1~}$. Using the Ramanujan master theorem and the generating function of Bernoulli polynomials one has the following integral representation:[6]

${\displaystyle \int _{0}^{\infty }x^{s-1}\,\left({\frac {e^{-ax}}{\,1-e^{-x}\,}}-{\frac {1}{x}}\right)\,\operatorname {d} x=\Gamma (s)\,\zeta (s,a)\!}$

which is valid for ${\displaystyle ~0<{\mathcal {Re}}(s)<1~}$.

Application to the Gamma function

Weierstrass's definition of the Gamma function

${\displaystyle \Gamma (x)={\frac {\,e^{-\gamma \,x\,}}{x}}\,\prod _{n=1}^{\infty }\left(\,1+{\frac {x}{n}}\,\right)^{-1}e^{x/n}\!}$

is equivalent to expression

${\displaystyle \log \Gamma (1+x)=-\gamma \,x+\sum _{k=2}^{\infty }{\frac {\,\zeta (k)\,}{k}}\,(-x)^{k}}$

where ${\displaystyle \zeta (k)}$ is the Riemann zeta function.

Then applying Ramanujan master theorem we have:

${\displaystyle \int _{0}^{\infty }x^{s-1}{\frac {\,\gamma \,x+\log \Gamma (1+x)\,}{x^{2}}}\operatorname {d} x={\frac {\pi }{\sin(\pi s)}}{\frac {\zeta (2-s)}{2-s}}\!}$

valid for ${\displaystyle 0<{\mathcal {Re}}(s)<1}$.

Special cases of ${\displaystyle s={\frac {1}{2}}}$ and ${\displaystyle s={\frac {3}{4}}}$ are

${\displaystyle \int _{0}^{\infty }{\frac {\,\gamma x+\log \Gamma (1+x)\,}{x^{5/2}}}\,\operatorname {d} x={\frac {2\pi }{3}}\,\zeta \left({\frac {3}{2}}\right)}$

${\displaystyle \int _{0}^{\infty }{\frac {\,\gamma \,x+\log \Gamma (1+x)\,}{x^{9/4}}}\,\operatorname {d} x={\sqrt {2}}{\frac {4\pi }{5}}\zeta \left({\frac {5}{4}}\right)}$

References

1. Berndt, B. (1985). Ramanujan's Notebooks, Part I. New York: Springer-Verlag.
2. González, Iván; Moll, V.H.; Schmidt, Iván (2011). "A generalized Ramanujan Master Theorem applied to the evaluation of Feynman diagrams". arXiv:1103.0588 [math-ph].
3. Glaisher, J.W.L. (1874). "A new formula in definite integrals". The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science. 48 (315): 53–55. doi:10.1080/14786447408641072.
4. Amdeberhan, Tewodros; Gonzalez, Ivan; Harrison, Marshall; Moll, Victor H.; Straub, Armin (2012). "Ramanujan's Master Theorem". The Ramanujan Journal. 29 (1–3): 103–120. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.232.8448. doi:10.1007/s11139-011-9333-y.
5. Hardy, G.H. (1978). Ramanujan: Twelve lectures on subjects suggested by his life and work (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Chelsea. ISBN 978-0-8284-0136-4.
6. Espinosa, O.; Moll, V. (2002). "On some definite integrals involving the Hurwitz zeta function. Part 2". The Ramanujan Journal. 6 (4): 449–468. arXiv:math/0107082. doi:10.1023/A:1021171500736.

External links

• "Ramanujan's Master Theorem". mathworld.wolfram.com.
• "rmt" (PDF). ArminStraub. publications.