English

Polynomials and asymptotic constants in a resurgent problem from 't Hooft

Number Theory 2025-10-14 v2 High Energy Physics - Theory Quantum Physics

Abstract

In a recent study of the quantum theory of harmonic oscillators, Gerard 't Hooft proposed the following problem: given G(z)=n=1nznG(z)=\sum_{n=1}^\infty\sqrt{n}\,z^n for z<1|z|<1, find its analytic continuation for z1|z|\ge1, excluding a branch-cut z[1,)z\in[1,\,\infty). A solution is provided by the bilateral convergent sum G(z)=12πn=(2πinlog(z))3/2G(z)=\frac12\sqrt{\pi}\sum_{n=-\infty}^\infty(2\pi{\rm i}n-\log(z))^{-3/2}. On the negative real axis, G(eu)G(-{\rm e}^u) has a sign-constant asymptotic expansion in 1/u21/u^2, for large positive uu. Optimal truncation leaves exponentially suppressed terms in an asymptotic expansion euk=0Pk(x)/uk{\rm e}^{-u}\sum_{k=0}^\infty P_k(x)/u^k, with P0(x)=x23P_0(x)=x-\frac23 and Pk(x)P_k(x) of degree 2k+12k+1 evaluated at x=u/2u/2x=u/2-\lfloor u/2\rfloor. At large kk, these polynomials become excellent approximations to sinusoids. The amplitude of Pk(x)P_k(x) increases factorially with kk and its phase increases linearly, with Pk(x)sin((2k+1)C2πx)R2k+1Γ(k+12)/2πP_k(x)\sim\sin((2k+1)C-2\pi x)R^{2k+1}\Gamma(k+\frac12)/\sqrt{2\pi}, where C1.0688539158679530121571C\approx1.0688539158679530121571 and R0.5181839789815558726739R\approx0.5181839789815558726739 are asymptotic constants satisfying Rexp(iC)=1/(2+πi)R\exp({\rm i}\,C)=\sqrt{-1/(2+\pi{\rm i})}.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2509.26297,
  title  = {Polynomials and asymptotic constants in a resurgent problem from 't Hooft},
  author = {David Broadhurst and Gergő Nemes},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.26297},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

13 pages: with proofs in section 5, by the second author