Connection formulas between Coulomb wave functions

Abstract

The mathematical relations between the regular Coulomb function $F_{\eta\ell}(\rho)$ and the irregular Coulomb functions $H^\pm_{\eta\ell}(\rho)$ and $G_{\eta\ell}(\rho)$ are obtained in the complex plane of the variables $\eta$ and $\rho$ for integer or half-integer values of $\ell$. These relations, referred to as "connection formulas", form the basis of the theory of Coulomb wave functions, and play an important role in many fields of physics, especially in the quantum theory of charged particle scattering. As a first step, the symmetry properties of the regular function $F_{\eta\ell}(\rho)$ are studied, in particular under the transformation $\ell\mapsto-\ell-1$, by means of the modified Coulomb function $\Phi_{\eta\ell}(\rho)$, which is entire in the dimensionless energy $\eta^{-2}$ and the angular momentum $\ell$. Then, it is shown that, for integer or half-integer $\ell$, the irregular functions $H^\pm_{\eta\ell}(\rho)$ and $G_{\eta\ell}(\rho)$ can be expressed in terms of the derivatives of $\Phi_{\eta,\ell}(\rho)$ and $\Phi_{\eta,-\ell-1}(\rho)$ with respect to $\ell$. As a consequence, the connection formulas directly lead to the description of the singular structures of $H^\pm_{\eta\ell}(\rho)$ and $G_{\eta\ell}(\rho)$ at complex energies in their whole Riemann surface. The analysis of the functions is supplemented by novel graphical representations in the complex plane of $\eta^{-1}$.