# How to plot the result of this singular integral?

Please I open a new post here after this one : https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/a/59203/10158

Now I want to plot the function $f(a,b)$ as a function of $b$ for different values of $a$ : $a=0.5$ , $a=10$ and $a=100$

$f(a,b)=1-\dfrac{a \, b^2}{K_{2}(a)}\dfrac{\partial^2}{\partial a^2}\Bigg[\dfrac{1}{a}\dfrac{1}{\sqrt{1-b^2}}\displaystyle{\int_1^{\infty }\dfrac{e^{-ax}}{\sqrt{x^2-1} (1+x\sqrt{1-b^2}) (x-1/\sqrt{1-b^2})} \, dx}\Bigg]$

where $K_{2}(a)$ is the modified Bessel function of the second kind and $\dfrac{\partial^2} {\partial a^2}$ is the $2^{nd}$ derivative with respect to a.

Mathematica input form:

1 - ((a b^2/BesselK[2, a]) D[(1/a) (1/Sqrt[1 - b^2]) Integrate[E^-ax/(Sqrt[x^2 - 1] (1 + x Sqrt[1 - b^2]) (x - 1/Sqrt[1 - b^2])), {x,1, Infinity}], {a, 2}])


Thank's.

• Welcome to Mathematica.SE! I suggest the following: 1) As you receive help, try to give it too, by answering questions in your area of expertise. 2) Read the faq! 3) When you see good questions and answers, vote them up by clicking the gray triangles, because the credibility of the system is based on the reputation gained by users sharing their knowledge. Also, please remember to accept the answer, if any, that solves your problem, by clicking the checkmark sign! – Dr. belisarius Sep 8 '14 at 19:43
• minor point but you need a space between a x – george2079 Sep 8 '14 at 19:48
• After recognizing an error in my previous post, I think that the expression f(a,b) is divergent. Surely, the integral is divergent because of the pole at x = 1/Sqrt[1-b^2], and because of the factor 1/a the divergence (which is independent of a) remains even after differentiating twice. – Dr. Wolfgang Hintze Sep 8 '14 at 22:33

First I assume that the OP wants to compute the Cauchy principal value of the integral, since the integrand has a simple pole in the interior of the interval of integration. Dealing with such singularities is described in the tutorial NIntegrate Integration Strategies.

I let the derivative be computed in the process of defining f. The symbols a and b are highlighted in red by the syntax highlighter because they appear as function arguments and as symbols being blocked. It indicates a warning of a potential scoping conflict. But Block is evaluated before the definition of f is set, so the warning may be ignored in this case. The differentiation results in an expression that contains a linear combination of three NIntegrate integrals. I combine these, more or less manually, with pattern replacements that implement the linearity properties of the integral. This reduces computation time by about 40%.

ClearAll[f];

f[a_, b_] /; a > 0 && 0 < b < 1 :=
Evaluate[Block[{a, b, NIntegrate},
1 - ((a b^2/BesselK[2, a]) *
D[(1/a) (1/Sqrt[1 - b^2]) *
NIntegrate[Exp[-a x]/(Sqrt[x^2 - 1] (1 + x Sqrt[1 - b^2]) (x - 1/Sqrt[1 - b^2])),
{x, 1, 1/Sqrt[1 - b^2], Infinity},
Method -> "PrincipalValue"],
{a, 2}]) /.
HoldPattern[Times[NIntegrate[int_, args__], coeff__]] :>
NIntegrate[Times[int, coeff], args] /.
t : Plus[_NIntegrate, __NIntegrate] :>
NIntegrate[First /@ t, Sequence @@ t[[1, 2 ;;]]]
]]


For the plot, I set a few options for NIntegrate suitable for plotting. Somehow some of the coefficients get set to MachinePrecision which causes a precision warning; therefore I turned the warning off.

Module[{opts = Options[NIntegrate], plot, offQ},
SetOptions[NIntegrate, {WorkingPrecision -> 12, AccuracyGoal -> 3, MaxRecursion -> 12}];
Evaluate@Table[f[a, b], {a, {0.520, 10, 100}}], {b, 0, 1},
`