The Endless Beta Integrals

Abstract

We consider a special degeneration limit $\omega_1\to - \omega_2$ (or $b\to {\rm i}$ in the context of $2d$ Liouville quantum field theory) for the most general univariate hyperbolic beta integral. This limit is also applied to the most general hyperbolic analogue of the Euler-Gauss hypergeometric function and its $W(E_7)$ group of symmetry transformations. Resulting functions are identified as hypergeometric functions over the field of complex numbers related to the ${\rm SL}(2,\mathbb{C})$ group. A new similar nontrivial hypergeometric degeneration of the Faddeev modular quantum dilogarithm (or hyperbolic gamma function) is discovered in the limit $\omega_1\to \omega_2$ (or $b\to 1$).