Compute (or approximate) $\int_{0}^{+\infty} \exp(-bx)\sqrt{x(x+a)} dx$

improper-integralsintegrationphysics

The following integral arises in a physics problem I am trying to solve, ($a,b$ are positive real numbers):

$\int_{0}^{+\infty} \exp(-bx)\sqrt{x(x+a)} dx.$

I tried solving it using Wolfram Alpha to no avail.

Is this a computable integral? It would be great to have an explicit solution.

If it is not, could you please suggest a method to obtain a reasonable approximation for it?

Best Answer

By http://dlmf.nist.gov/10.32.E8, we have \begin{align*} \int_0^{ + \infty } {e^{ - bx} \sqrt {x(x + a)} dx} & \mathop = \limits^{x = at} a^2 \int_0^{ + \infty } {e^{ - abt} \sqrt {t(t + 1)} dt} \\ & \! \mathop = \limits^{t = \frac{{w - 1}}{2}} \frac{{a^2 }}{4}e^{\frac{{ab}}{2}} \int_1^{ + \infty } {e^{ - \frac{{ab}}{2}w} \sqrt {w^2 - 1} d} w =\frac{a}{{2b}}e^{\frac{{ab}}{2}} K_1 \!\left( {\frac{{ab}}{2}} \right). \end{align*} This result is valid whenever $\Re a>0$ and $\Re b>0$.

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