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I am asked to prove that the integral $\int_{0}^{\infty} \frac{1}{x^\alpha (x+1)} = \frac{\pi}{\sin(\pi \alpha)}$ by using Cauchy's Theorem in this regionenter image description here

It looks reasonable to integrate $\frac{1}{z^\alpha (z+1)}$ since we will get the desired integral when we integrate over the real axis and let the inner and outer radius tend to 0 and infinity respectively. I also managed to show that the integral over the outer sector of circle tends to zero as the outer radius tends to infinity, but I'm stuck calculating the integral over the remaining two regions. Any ideas?

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First of all, note that the line that connects the contour to 0 should be horizontal, and the smaller circle closed; the two horizontal lines should coincide. This is called the keyhole countour. Also note that the results holds only for $\alpha \in (0, 1)$

To see why on the inner circle the integral tend to $0$, you should note that while is true that the function blows up to infinity like $z^{-\alpha}$, the radius of the circle is going to $0$ like $z$. Since $\alpha < 1$, the integral vanishes. More formally you can write

$$\left|\int_{|z| = r} \frac{1}{z^\alpha(1+z)}dz \right| \le \int_{|z| = r} \frac{1}{r^\alpha(1-r)} dz = \frac {2\pi r}{r^\alpha(1-r)} \to 0$$ as $r \to 0$.

Now, to compute the integral we write

$$\oint_\gamma \frac{1}{z^\alpha(1+z)}dz = 2\pi i \text{Res}(f(z), -1)$$

Clearly $$\text{Res}(f(z), -1) = \frac 1{(-1)^\alpha} = e^{-i\pi\alpha}$$

So $$\oint_\gamma \frac{1}{z^\alpha(1+z)}dz = 2\pi i e^{-i\pi\alpha}$$

But since the integral on the big and small circle vanish, all is left is the integral on the two (coinciding) horizontal lines. Since $z^\alpha$ is a multi-valued function, though, on the lower line we need to choose a different branch of the function. Therefore we will write

$$\oint_\gamma \frac{1}{z^\alpha(1+z)} dz = \int_0^\infty \frac{1}{z^\alpha(1+z)} dz - \int_0^\infty \frac{1}{z^\alpha(1+z)e^{2\pi i \alpha}} dz$$

Notice that factor $e^{2\pi i \alpha}$ coming from the different branch of $z^\alpha$ and the minus sign coming from the fact that we travel the two lines in different directions. Therefore

$$\oint_\gamma \frac{1}{z^\alpha(1+z)} dz = \left(1 - \frac 1{e^{2\pi i \alpha}}\right)\int_0^\infty \frac{1}{z^\alpha(1+z)} dz = 2\pi i e^{-i\pi\alpha}$$

Simplifying we finally find $$\int_0^\infty \frac{1}{z^\alpha(1+z)} dz = \frac {2\pi i e^{i\pi\alpha}}{e^{2i\pi \alpha} - 1} = \frac \pi{\sin(\pi \alpha)}$$

Ant
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