Evaluate the integral $\int e^{-it} \operatorname{sinc} t \,dt$

analysiscalculusconvolutionindefinite-integralsintegration

I need to find the integral
$$
\int_{-\infty}^x dt \, e^{-it}\text{sinc}(t)
$$

where
$$
\text{sinc}(t) = \frac{\text{sin}(t)}{t}.
$$

I need it to perform a convolution of the function $e^{-ix}\text{sinc}(x)$ with a rectangular window. WolframAlpha tells me that the antiderivative is
$$
\frac{1}{2}i\big(-\log(x) + \text{Ei}(-2ix)\big).
$$

I would like to know how to arrive at this result myself, I can see which terms in the integral turn into which terms of the solution, but I can't seem to get from the integral I have to the solution WolframAlpha provides me. I get stuck with infinities or the likes.

Could someone provide me with a derivation of this, or give me some hints as for what I need to do to obtain this result?

Best Answer

Rewriting the antiderivative in terms of $\sin$ and writing that function in its complex exponential form gives \begin{multline*} \int \frac{e^{-iz}}{z} \sin z \,dz = \int \frac{1}{t} e^{-iz} \cdot \frac{1}{2} \left(e^{iz} - e^{-iz}\right)\,dz = \frac{1}{2i}\int\frac{1}{z}(1 - e^{-2 i z})\,dz \\= -\frac{i}{2} \left[\int \frac{dz}{z} - \int \frac{e^{-2 i z}}{z} \,dt\right] = -\frac{i}{2} \left( \log z + \operatorname{Ei}_1(2iz)\right) + C\end{multline*}

For any $C$, this function has a removable singularity at $z = 0$, with limit $C + \frac{3\pi}{4} + i \cdot \frac{1}{2} (\log 2 + \gamma)$, where $\gamma$ is the Euler-Mascheroni constant. So, the function is an antiderivative everywhere except along the branch cut of $\log$ (we choose the branch cut so that $\arg z \in [-\pi, \pi)$). If we define $F(z)$ to be the antiderivative with $C = -\left[\frac{3\pi}{4} + i \cdot \frac{1}{2} (\log 2 + \gamma)\right]$, so that the limit of $F(0)$ as $t \to 0$ along the real axis, then the restriction $F\vert_\Bbb R$ satisfies $F\vert_\Bbb R(-t) = -\overline{F\vert_\Bbb R(t)}$.

For real $t$, $\lim_{t \to \pm \infty} \operatorname{Ei}_1(2 i t) = \pm \pi i$, which is finite. So, since $\log t$ is unbounded as $t \to \pm \infty$, $\int_{-\infty}^x \frac{e^{-it}}{t} \sin t \,dt$ does not converge for any $x$. This essentially occurs because $e^{-it} \sin t$ has a nonzero constant component.

Here $\operatorname{Ei}_1(z)$ is the analytic continuation of $$z \mapsto \int_1^\infty \frac{e^{-sz}}{s} \,ds$$ to $\Bbb C \setminus \{0\}$. This function is realized to the (complex-valued) one-argument exponential integral function, $\operatorname{Ei}(z)$, by $$\operatorname{Ei}(z) = -\operatorname{Ei}_1(-z) + \frac{1}{2} \log z - \frac{1}{2} \log \left(\frac{1}{z}\right) - \log(-z).$$

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