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Airy Turning-Point Asymptotics for Ramanujan's Entire Function $A_q(z)$

Classical Analysis and ODEs 2026-07-29 v1 Complex Variables

Abstract

Let Aq(z)=k=0qk2(q;q)k(z)k A_q(z)=\sum_{k=0}^{\infty}\frac{q^{k^2}}{(q;q)_k}(-z)^k be Ramanujan's entire function. We study it in the turning-point scaling q=eε,z=q4eε2/3ζ, q=e^{-\varepsilon},\qquad z=\frac{\sqrt q}{4}e^{-\varepsilon^{2/3}\zeta}, with ζ\zeta in a compact subset of C\mathbb{C}. After an explicit exponential normalization, a direct coalescing-saddle analysis gives, uniformly on compact subsets, the expansion Ai(ζ)+ε2/330(4ζAi(ζ)+ζ2Ai(ζ))+OK(ε). \operatorname{Ai}(\zeta) +\frac{\varepsilon^{2/3}}{30} \left(4\zeta\operatorname{Ai}(\zeta) +\zeta^2\operatorname{Ai}'(\zeta)\right) +O_K(\varepsilon). Thus the first correction is explicit and comes with a quantitative remainder. For every fixed nn, the same analysis locates the positive zero associated with the nn-th Airy zero and proves that it is globally the nn-th positive zero of AqA_q. Expanding the normalized qq-difference equation recovers the Airy differential equation and confirms the scaling. An appendix records Morita's antisymmetric companion, whose normalized limit is Bi\operatorname{Bi}, together with a single-valued meromorphic descent of it. Numerical tables illustrate the normalization, the correction, and the zero formulas.

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Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.27504,
  title  = {Airy Turning-Point Asymptotics for Ramanujan's Entire Function $A_q(z)$},
  author = {Yu-Tian Li},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.27504},
  year   = {2026}
}

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31 pages