Derivative of Bessel $K$

bessel functionsderivativesdigamma-functionsequences-and-seriesspecial functions

I'm interested in the first derivative of the Bessel $K$ function with respect to its parameter. I'll use the following notation; $K^{(1,0)}(n,z):= \frac{\partial}{\partial \nu} K_\nu(z) \bigg|_{\nu = n}$

I've had a look at some different expressions for $K^{(1,0)}$, for example here:
https://functions.wolfram.com/Bessel-TypeFunctions/BesselK/20/01/01/

The expressions seem to me to be quite fierce; involving infintite sums over a bunch of gamma functions and digamma functions etc. I don't have much experience manipulating these kinds of series.

However these expressions are either for general $n\in \mathbb{Z}$ or $n \notin \mathbb{Z}$, and I'm currently only interested in $K^{(1,0)}(\frac{1}{2},z)$. I know that $K_{\frac{1}{2}}(z)$ simplifies significantly compared to a general $K_\nu(z)$, so I feel that there may be some hope that $K^{(1,0)}(\frac{1}{2},z)$ could also simplify compared to $K^{(1,0)}(n,z)$.

Does anybody know if it's possible to give a simplified expression for the derivative $K^{(1,0)}(\frac{1}{2},z)$ of the Bessel $K$ function?

Best Answer

This derivative is explicitly tabulated (DLMF) \begin{equation} \left.\frac{\partial K_{\nu}\left(x\right)}{\partial\nu}\right|_{\nu=\frac{ 1}{2}}=\sqrt{\frac{\pi}{2x}}E_{1}\left(2x\right)e^{x} \end{equation} where \begin{equation} E_{1}\left(z\right)=\int_{z}^{\infty}\frac{e^{-t}}{t}\mathrm{d}t \end{equation} is the exponential integral.

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