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Anger function

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Source updated December 15, 2025

In mathematics, the Anger function, introduced by C. T. Anger (1855), is a function defined as

$\mathbf {J} _{\nu }(z)={\frac {1}{\pi }}\int _{0}^{\pi }\cos(\nu \theta -z\sin \theta )\,d\theta$

with complex parameter $\nu$ and complex variable ⁠ ${\textit {z}}$ ⁠. It is closely related to the Bessel functions.

The Weber function (also known as Lommel, Weber function), introduced by H. F. Weber (1879), is a closely related function defined by

$\mathbf {E} _{\nu }(z)={\frac {1}{\pi }}\int _{0}^{\pi }\sin(\nu \theta -z\sin \theta )\,d\theta$

and is closely related to Bessel functions of the second kind.

01Relation between Weber and Anger functions

The Anger and Weber functions are related by

${\begin{aligned}\sin(\pi \nu )\mathbf {J} _{\nu }(z)&=\cos(\pi \nu )\mathbf {E} _{\nu }(z)-\mathbf {E} _{-\nu }(z),\\-\sin(\pi \nu )\mathbf {E} _{\nu }(z)&=\cos(\pi \nu )\mathbf {J} _{\nu }(z)-\mathbf {J} _{-\nu }(z),\end{aligned}}$

so in particular if ν is not an integer they can be expressed as linear combinations of each other. If ν is an integer then Anger functions J_ν are the same as Bessel functions J_ν, and Weber functions can be expressed as finite linear combinations of Struve functions.

02Power series expansion

The Anger function has the power series expansion

$\mathbf {J} _{\nu }(z)=\cos {\frac {\pi \nu }{2}}\sum _{k=0}^{\infty }{\frac {(-1)^{k}z^{2k}}{4^{k}\Gamma \left(k+{\frac {\nu }{2}}+1\right)\Gamma \left(k-{\frac {\nu }{2}}+1\right)}}+\sin {\frac {\pi \nu }{2}}\sum _{k=0}^{\infty }{\frac {(-1)^{k}z^{2k+1}}{2^{2k+1}\Gamma \left(k+{\frac {\nu }{2}}+{\frac {3}{2}}\right)\Gamma \left(k-{\frac {\nu }{2}}+{\frac {3}{2}}\right)}}.$

While the Weber function has the power series expansion

$\mathbf {E} _{\nu }(z)=\sin {\frac {\pi \nu }{2}}\sum _{k=0}^{\infty }{\frac {(-1)^{k}z^{2k}}{4^{k}\Gamma \left(k+{\frac {\nu }{2}}+1\right)\Gamma \left(k-{\frac {\nu }{2}}+1\right)}}-\cos {\frac {\pi \nu }{2}}\sum _{k=0}^{\infty }{\frac {(-1)^{k}z^{2k+1}}{2^{2k+1}\Gamma \left(k+{\frac {\nu }{2}}+{\frac {3}{2}}\right)\Gamma \left(k-{\frac {\nu }{2}}+{\frac {3}{2}}\right)}}.$

03Differential equations

The Anger and Weber functions are solutions of inhomogeneous forms of Bessel's equation

$z^{2}y^{\prime \prime }+zy^{\prime }+(z^{2}-\nu ^{2})y=0.$

More precisely, the Anger functions satisfy the equation

$z^{2}y^{\prime \prime }+zy^{\prime }+(z^{2}-\nu ^{2})y={\frac {(z-\nu )\sin(\pi \nu )}{\pi }},$

and the Weber functions satisfy the equation

$z^{2}y^{\prime \prime }+zy^{\prime }+(z^{2}-\nu ^{2})y=-{\frac {z+\nu +(z-\nu )\cos(\pi \nu )}{\pi }}.$

04Recurrence relations

The Anger function satisfies this inhomogeneous form of recurrence relation

$z\mathbf {J} _{\nu -1}(z)+z\mathbf {J} _{\nu +1}(z)=2\nu \mathbf {J} _{\nu }(z)-{\frac {2\sin \pi \nu }{\pi }}.$

While the Weber function satisfies this inhomogeneous form of recurrence relation

$z\mathbf {E} _{\nu -1}(z)+z\mathbf {E} _{\nu +1}(z)=2\nu \mathbf {E} _{\nu }(z)-{\frac {2(1-\cos \pi \nu )}{\pi }}.$

05Delay differential equations

The Anger and Weber functions satisfy these homogeneous forms of delay differential equations

$\mathbf {J} _{\nu -1}(z)-\mathbf {J} _{\nu +1}(z)=2{\dfrac {\partial }{\partial z}}\mathbf {J} _{\nu }(z),$

$\mathbf {E} _{\nu -1}(z)-\mathbf {E} _{\nu +1}(z)=2{\dfrac {\partial }{\partial z}}\mathbf {E} _{\nu }(z).$

The Anger and Weber functions also satisfy these inhomogeneous forms of delay differential equations

$z{\dfrac {\partial }{\partial z}}\mathbf {J} _{\nu }(z)\pm \nu \mathbf {J} _{\nu }(z)=\pm z\mathbf {J} _{\nu \mp 1}(z)\pm {\frac {\sin \pi \nu }{\pi }},$

$z{\dfrac {\partial }{\partial z}}\mathbf {E} _{\nu }(z)\pm \nu \mathbf {E} _{\nu }(z)=\pm z\mathbf {E} _{\nu \mp 1}(z)\pm {\frac {1-\cos \pi \nu }{\pi }}.$

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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Anger function”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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