Solution to ODE: integral form of Airy equation

907 Views Asked by At

I've been told that the following equation

$$\left(x-\frac{\partial^2}{\partial x^2} \right) y =1$$

has a solution of the form

$$y(x)=\int_0^\infty e^{-t^3/3 - ixt}dt$$

(an exponential of something, but I can't find what's in the exponent)

What's the solution to this equation in terms of the integral of an exponential? $y(x)$ has to vanish as $x\rightarrow \infty$, so I guess the term corresponding to the Bi function is not present.

x is complex

1

There are 1 best solutions below

0
On

The Airy integrals that defines the Airy functions , $\text{Ai}$ and $\text{Bi}$ are

$$ \text{Ai}(x)=\frac{1}{\pi}\int_0^{\infty}\cos\left(xt+\frac{t^3}{3} \right)~dt\\ \text{Bi}(x)=\frac{1}{\pi}\int_0^{\infty}\sin\left(xt+\frac{t^3}{3} \right)~dt+\frac{1}{\pi}\int_0^{\infty}\exp\left(xt+\frac{t^3}{3} \right)~dt $$

and Airy's differential equation and solution are

$$ \frac{d^2f}{dx^2}-xf=0\\ f=a\text{Ai}(x)+b\text{Bi}(x) $$

The Airy functions are periodic for negative $x$ and hyperbolic for positive $x$, with $\text{Ai}\to 0 ~\& ~\text{Bi}\to\infty \text{ as } x\to\infty.$