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Some years ago I developed the closed curve (Ref. 1)

$$z=\frac{1}{(1-i\tau)^{i+1}}, \ \ \tau\in (-\infty,\infty)$$

I was able to calculate the arc length and area,

$$ s=\int |\dot z| d\tau=2\sqrt{2}\sinh\left(\frac{\pi}{2}\right)\\ A=\frac{1}{2}\int \mathfrak{Im}\{z^*\dot z\}d\tau=\frac{\sinh \pi}{4} $$

However, the centroid has always eluded me,

$$z_c=\frac{1}{3A}\int z\ \mathfrak{Im}\{z^*\dot z\}d\tau$$

You may find it easier to work with the transform $\tau=\tan\theta$ and

$$z(\theta)=\cos^{1+i}\theta\ e^{i(1+i)\theta},\ \ \theta\in[-\pi/2,\pi/2]$$

References

  1. The Apple of My $i$ (and the linked PDF therein)

  2. Zwikker, C. (1968). The Advanced Geometry of Plane Curves and Their Applications, Dover Press.

Cye Waldman
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1 Answers1

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I can reproduce your results for $s$ and $A$, but I too am stuck on $z_c$. Querying Wolfram Alpha with a modified integrand, yields an unrelated "closed" form solution with a hypergeometric function as part of the solution.

Documenting some intermediate expressions:

$\tau = \tan{\theta}$

$d\tau = \sec^{2}{\theta} d\theta$

$z = \dfrac{1+i\tau}{1+\tau^2}e^{\tan^{-1}{(\frac{-\tau}{1})}}e^{-i\frac{1}{2}\ln{(1+\tau^2)}} = \dfrac{1+i\tan{\theta}}{\sec^{2}\theta}e^{-\theta}e^{-i\ln{(\sec{\theta})}} = \cos{(\theta)} e^{-\theta}e^{i(\theta-\ln{(\sec{\theta})})}$

$\bar{z} = (1+i\tau)^{-(1-i)}$

$\dot{z} = (-1+i)(1-i\tau)^{-(2+i)}$

$|\dot{z}|=\dfrac{\sqrt{2}}{1+\tau^2}e^{\tan^{-1}(\frac{-\tau}{1})} = \dfrac{\sqrt{2}}{\sec^{2}{\theta}}e^{-\theta}$

${\rm Im}(\bar{z}\dot{z}) = \dfrac{(1-\tau)}{(1+\tau^2)^2}e^{2\tan^{-1}{(\frac{-\tau}{1})}} = \dfrac{\cos{\theta}(\cos{\theta}-\sin{\theta})e^{-2\theta}}{\sec^{2}{\theta}}$

I arrive at the following integral for the centroid:

$$z_c = \frac{1}{3A}\int_{-\pi/2}^{\pi/2} \cos^{2}\theta(\cos{\theta}-\sin{\theta})e^{-3\theta}e^{i(\theta-\ln{(\sec{\theta})})} d\theta$$

which can be manipulated into

$$z_c = \frac{1}{3A}\int_{-\pi/2}^{\pi/2} e^{-6\theta}(1-\tan{\theta})(e^{\theta}\cos{\theta})^{3+i} d\theta$$

and with an integration by parts using $u = \dfrac{1}{3A}e^{-6\theta}$ and $dv$ as the remaining portion of the above integrand, the integral can be converted to

$$z_c = \dfrac{3-i}{5A}\int_{-\pi/2}^{\pi/2} e^{-6\theta}(e^{\theta}\cos{\theta})^{3+i} d\theta$$

and then I'm stuck.

Update after making more progress in a different line:

Starting from

$z{\rm Im}(\bar{z}\dot{z}) = \dfrac{(1-\tau)(1+i\tau)}{(1+\tau^2)^3(1-i\tau)^i}\left[\dfrac{1+i\tau}{1-i\tau}\right]^{i}$

the integral

$$z_c = \dfrac{4}{3\sinh{\pi}} \int_{-\infty}^{\infty} \dfrac{(1-\tau)(1+i\tau)}{(1+\tau^2)^3(1-i\tau)^i}\left[\dfrac{1+i\tau}{1-i\tau}\right]^{i} d\tau$$

can't be solved using Residue Theory, because of the items raised to the power $i$ which introduces singularities in the complex plane from the complex Log() function.

Luckily, the integral does have a solution:

$$z_c = \dfrac{i(1+i\tau)^{-1+i}}{6\sinh(\pi)4^i}\left[{}_2F_1\left(-1+i,3+2i;i;\dfrac{1+i\tau}{2}\right)-(1+i\tau) {}_2F_1\left(i,3+2i;1+i;\dfrac{1+i\tau}{2}\right)\right]\biggr\rvert_{-\infty}^{\infty}$$

From a plot of this function, it appears that it converges rapidly in both directions. By $\tau = 2$ the function is $\approx 0$. By $\tau = -30$ the real and imaginary parts are relatively flat.

So it is very likely that the limit need only be evaluated at $-\infty$ to get a closed form expression

$$z_c = \lim_{\tau\to-\infty} -\dfrac{i(1+i\tau)^{-1+i}}{6\sinh(\pi)4^i}\left[{}_2F_1\left(-1+i,3+2i;i;\dfrac{1+i\tau}{2}\right)-(1+i\tau) {}_2F_1\left(i,3+2i;1+i;\dfrac{1+i\tau}{2}\right)\right]$$

So this has been reduced to a limit problem, which the substitution $\tau = \tan\theta$, and hence $1+i\tau = \sec(\theta)e^{i\theta}$, may help.

I dug into evaluating the limit a bit, and I don't think L'Hospital's rule can be used here. I could be wrong.

Update after applying hypergeometric transform and evaluating limits

After applying the Pfaff transform to the hypergeometric functions in the expression and evaluating the limits as $\tau$ goes to $\pm \infty$, I get a surprising cancellation of the $\sinh(\pi)$ term, and I arrive at:

$$z_c = \dfrac{i}{6 \cdot 2^i}\left[{}_2F_1(-1+i,-3-i;i;1) + 2_2F_1(i,-2-i;1+i;1)\right]$$

which after applying

$${}_2F_1(a,b;c;1) = \dfrac{\Gamma(c)\Gamma(c-a-b)}{\Gamma(c-a)\Gamma(c-b)}$$

yields

$$z_c = \dfrac{i}{6 \cdot 2^i}\left[\dfrac{\Gamma(i)\Gamma(4+i)}{\Gamma(1)\Gamma(3+2i)} +2 \cdot \dfrac{\Gamma(1+i)\Gamma(3+i)}{\Gamma(1)\Gamma(3+2i)}\right]$$

or, after some manipulation:

$$z_c = \dfrac{\sqrt{2}}{2}\cdot e^{i\left(\frac{3\pi}{4}-\ln{2}\right)}\cdot\dfrac{\Gamma(i)\Gamma(3+i)}{\Gamma(3+2i)}$$

$$z_c = \dfrac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\cdot 2^{-i}\left(-\dfrac{\sqrt{2}}{2}+\dfrac{\sqrt{2}}{2}i\right)\cdot\dfrac{\Gamma(i)\Gamma(3+i)}{\Gamma(3+2i)}$$

$$z_c = \dfrac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\cdot 2^{-i}\left(-\dfrac{\sqrt{2}}{2}+\dfrac{\sqrt{2}}{2}i\right)\cdot \mathrm {B}(i, 3+i)$$

Simplifying the $\Gamma()$ functions a bit more:

$$z_c = \dfrac{1}{4\sqrt{2}}\cdot2^{-i}\left(\dfrac{3}{5}+\dfrac{4}{5}i\right)\left(\dfrac{\sqrt{2}}{2}+\dfrac{\sqrt{2}}{2}i\right) \cdot \dfrac{\Gamma(i)^2}{\Gamma(2i)}$$

(A radius, 3 rotations, and then a ratio of $\Gamma()$ functions with purely imaginary arguments.)

Andy Walls
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    I appreciate and commend your efforts. I got about as far as you did. But I was getting some weird results with WolframAlpha and Mathematica as well. I don't know of any other reference for the centroid, Zwikker is my go-to book; if it's a question of availability, try this http://alexandria.tue.nl/repository/books/475961.pdf. I've worked with the hypergeometric function a lot so I overcame my initial intimidation years ago. It's no big deal. – Cye Waldman Apr 29 '17 at 16:31
  • Thanks. I'll also note that $$\int (1-\tan\theta)e^{i(\theta-\ln(\sec \theta))} d\theta$$ has a closed form solution without a hypergeometric function. So maybe there's hope for an integration by parts. – Andy Walls Apr 29 '17 at 19:58
  • Another small observation: $$e^{-i\ln(\sec\theta)} = (\cos\theta)^i$$ – Andy Walls Apr 29 '17 at 20:17
  • Yes, I was using $$e^{i\ln(\cos\theta)} = (\cos\theta)^i$$ – Cye Waldman Apr 29 '17 at 20:21
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    I tested your $z_c$ integral numerically and it's correct. You've gotten further analytically than I did. – Cye Waldman Apr 29 '17 at 23:20
  • Awesome. You probably don't need me to tell you that the solution is correct. I verified it against three numerical solutions and they were all the same. I'll see if I can modify the document at the National Curve Bank where I originally described the Apple of My i. – Cye Waldman Jun 01 '17 at 01:09
  • Yeah, I had to keep checking intermediate steps numerically, as I wasn't very rigorous about regions of convergence or validity as I was fumbling through all sorts of hypergeometric identities. Somewhere I made two sign mistakes on the overall expression, which happily cancelled out. Two wrongs do make a right sometimes. :) – Andy Walls Jun 01 '17 at 01:54
  • So, Andy, you wouldn't happen to work for big blue, would you? – Cye Waldman Jun 01 '17 at 02:52
  • Nope. I'm the Andy Walls that hangs around the GNURadio community and also the same one listed as the maintainer of the cx18 driver in the Linux kernel. I also happen to be an owner-employee of a small company. – Andy Walls Jun 01 '17 at 13:19
  • Well I'm very glad that my question caught your attention. – Cye Waldman Jun 01 '17 at 22:37
  • The oddest part of the problem was taking the limit of $\left[\dfrac{1+i\tau}{1-i\tau}\right]^i $ as $\tau \rightarrow \pm \infty $, which both approach $(-1)^i $, but from different directions so the result is $e^{\pm\pi}$, which is how the cancelation of the $\sinh(\pi) $ term ultimately comes about. – Andy Walls Jun 02 '17 at 00:45
  • As promised, I've updated the original (2012) manuscript to include your solution for the centroid of The Apple of My i. Here's a direct link to the PDF (see bottom of page 4): http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/waldman/appletext2.pdf. – Cye Waldman Jun 07 '17 at 16:54
  • @Cye_Waldman: Neat! Thanks. I hate to bring this up, but I think you have a typographical error on the exponent of $2^{-i}$ in the linked PDF, which shows $2^{i}$ in the PDF. FWIW, I think my favorite form of the solution is $z(G) = 2^{-1-i}(-1+i)\text{B}(i, 3+i)$, because it has so few terms. – Andy Walls Jun 07 '17 at 20:58
  • Thanks for catching that, I'll try to take care of it. I know I had it right in the computer program because I checked it. And I do like the beta function form much better. – Cye Waldman Jun 07 '17 at 23:37
  • Andy, I got that fixed up and added your neat beta function solution ass well. Thanks again for all your efforts. – Cye Waldman Jun 09 '17 at 19:12
  • Cool. I saw it at appletext3.pdf that I hand typed in. The web page link to the PDF still appears to point to the original PDF from 2012. – Andy Walls Jun 09 '17 at 20:13
  • No, I checked it earlier. I purposely did not change the date in the header. Look at the bottom of page 4 for NOTE ADDED. Here's the direct link to the pdf: http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/waldman/appletext3.pdf – Cye Waldman Jun 09 '17 at 20:34
  • Oops, I was looking at an archived version of the Web page. Nevermind.... – Andy Walls Jun 09 '17 at 20:50