Digital Library of Mathematical Functions
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13 Confluent Hypergeometric FunctionsWhittaker Functions

§13.18 Relations to Other Functions

Contents

§13.18(ii) Incomplete Gamma Functions

For the notation see §§6.2(i), 7.2(i), and 8.2(i). When \tfrac{1}{2}-\kappa\pm\mu is an integer the Whittaker functions can be expressed as incomplete gamma functions (or generalized exponential integrals). For example,

Special cases are the error functions

13.18.7\mathop{W_{{-\frac{1}{4},\pm\frac{1}{4}}}\/}\nolimits\!\left(z^{2}\right)=e^{{%
\frac{1}{2}z^{2}}}\sqrt{\pi z}\mathop{\mathrm{erfc}\/}\nolimits\!\left(z\right).

§13.18(iii) Modified Bessel Functions

When \kappa=0 the Whittaker functions can be expressed as modified Bessel functions. For the notation see §§10.25(ii) and 9.2(i).