Uniform asymptotic expansions for the Whittaker functions M κ , μ ( z ) and W κ , μ ( z ) with μ large

Abstract

Uniform asymptotic expansions are derived for Whittaker’s confluent hypergeometric functions M κ , μ ( z ) and W κ , μ ( z ) , as well as the numerically satisfactory companion function W − κ , μ ( z   e − π i ) . The expansions are uniformly valid for μ → ∞ , 0 ≤ κ / μ ≤ 1 − δ < 1 and 0 ≤ arg ⁡ ( z ) ≤ π . By using appropriate connection and analytic continuation formulae, these expansions can be extended to all unbounded non-zero complex z . The approximations come from recent asymptotic expansions involving elementary functions and Airy functions, and explicit error bounds are either provided or available.