Integral $\int_{-1}^{1} \frac{1}{x}\sqrt{\frac{1+x}{1-x}} \log \left( \frac{(r-1)x^{2} + sx + 1}{(r-1)x^{2} - sx + 1} \right) \, \mathrm dx$

Question

Regarding this problem, I conjectured that

$$ I(r, s) = \int_{-1}^{1} \frac{1}{x}\sqrt{\frac{1+x}{1-x}} \log \left( \frac{(r-1)x^{2} + sx + 1}{(r-1)x^{2} - sx + 1} \right) \, \mathrm dx = 4 \pi \operatorname{arccot} \sqrt{ \frac{2r + 2\sqrt{r^{2} - s^{2}}}{s^{2}} - 1}. $$

Though we may try the same technique as in the previous problem, now I'm curious if this generality leads us to a different (and possible a more elegant) proof.

Indeed, I observed that $I(r, 0) = 0$ and

$$\frac{\partial I}{\partial s}(r, s) = \int_{0}^{\infty} \left\{ \frac{2\sqrt{y}}{(r-s)y^{2} + 2(2-r)y + (r+s)}+\frac{2\sqrt{y}}{(r+s)y^{2}+ 2(2-r)y + (r-s)} \right\} \,\mathrm dy, $$

which can be evaluated using standard contour integration technique. But simplifying the residue and integrating them seems still daunting.

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EDIT. By applying a series of change of variables, I noticed that the problem is equivalent to prove that

$$ \tilde{I}(\alpha, s) := \int_{-1}^{1} \frac{1}{x}\sqrt{\frac{1+x}{1-x}} \log \left( \frac{ 1 + 2sx \sin\alpha + (s^{2} - \cos^{2}\alpha) x^{2}}{ 1 - 2sx \sin\alpha + (s^{2} - \cos^{2}\alpha) x^{2}} \right) \, \mathrm dx = 4\pi \alpha $$

for $-\frac{\pi}{2} < \alpha < \frac{\pi}{2}$ and $s > 1$. (This is equivalent to the condition that the expression inside the logarithm is positive for all $x \in \Bbb{R}$.)

Another simple observation. once you prove that $\tilde{I}(\alpha, s)$ does not depend on the variable $s$ for $s > 1$, then by suitable limiting process it follows that

$$ \tilde{I}(\alpha, s) = \int_{-\infty}^{\infty} \log \left( \frac{ 1 + 2x \sin\alpha + x^{2}}{ 1 - 2x \sin\alpha + x^{2}} \right) \, \frac{\mathrm dx}{x}, $$

which (I guess) can be calculated by hand. The following graph may also help us understand the behavior of this integral.

Answer 1

So, following the procedure I outlined here, I get for the transformed integral:

$$I(r,s) = \int_0^{\infty} dv \frac{4 s \left(v^2-1\right) \left(v^4-(4 r-6) v^2+1\right)}{v^8+4 \left(2 r-s^2-1\right) v^6 +2 \left(8 r^2-8 r-4 s^2+3\right) v^4 +4 \left(2 r-s^2-1\right) v^2 +1} \log{v} $$

Note that this reduces to the integral in the original problem when $r=3$ and $s=2$. Then we see that the roots of the denominator satisfy the same symmetries as before, so we need only find one root of the form $\rho e^{i \theta}$ where

$$\rho = \sqrt{\frac{r+\sqrt{r^2-s^2}}{2}} + \sqrt{\frac{r+\sqrt{r^2-s^2}}{2}-1}$$

and

$$\theta = \arctan{\sqrt{\frac{2 \left (r+\sqrt{r^2-s^2}\right )}{s^2}-1}}$$

Using the same methodology I derived, I am able to confirm your conjecture.