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As from the title, I am currently dealing with this sum

$\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{1}{(a+n^2)^p}$

in particular with $p=1/2,3/2,...$ (but once solved for $p=1/2$ one can derive wrt $a$ and find the others), and real positive $a$. I would like to understand which kind of zeta function is it (Shintani's zeta??) and how to regularise it (Mathematica tells me it does not converge). Any good reference dealing with this kind of sums?

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  • $\begingroup$ expanding $(x^2+a)^{-s} = x^{-2s}\sum_{k=0}^\infty {-s \choose k} a^k x^{-2k}$ I get that $\displaystyle\sum_{n=m}^\infty (n^2+a)^{-s} = \sum_{k=0}^\infty {-s \choose k} a^k (\zeta(2k+2s)-\sum_{n < m} n^{-2k-2s} ) $ converges for every $s$ provided $m > a$ $\endgroup$
    – reuns
    Sep 27, 2016 at 11:37
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    $\begingroup$ @user1952009 --- it's divergent for $s\leq 1/2$. $\endgroup$ Sep 27, 2016 at 11:43
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    $\begingroup$ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integral_test_for_convergence $\endgroup$ Sep 27, 2016 at 12:05
  • $\begingroup$ Thank you guys! Now, how can I exactly regularise it by adding $\epsilon$ to $p$ (never done that, sorry for the dumb question)? I need to find a way to extract a finite result like in the Riemann's zeta case (where we can take express the zeta as div+finite parts and one can take the average to cancel the div part, for instance). Moreover, I want to keep $a$ as general as possible, without making any assumption like $a>>1,a<<1$. ( $a>>1$ has actually a physical meaning, but then I recover the standard zeta, when $p=1/2$, and I know how to regularise). I want to understand the general case. $\endgroup$
    – BLS
    Sep 28, 2016 at 6:11
  • $\begingroup$ Do I have to expand around $\epsilon$? $\endgroup$
    – BLS
    Sep 28, 2016 at 6:12

2 Answers 2

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As I said in the comment, $$F_a(s) = \sum_{n=0}^\infty (n^2+a)^{-s}, \qquad Re(s) > 1/2$$ Has an analytic continuation in term of the Riemann zeta function :

$$F_a(s) = \sum_{n= 0}^{A-1} (n^2+a)^{-s}+\sum_{k=0}^\infty {-s \choose k} a^k \underset {\underset{\underset{\displaystyle s \in \mathbb{C}\setminus \{1/2-k,k\in \mathbb{N}\}}{}}{ }}{\left(\zeta(2k+2s)-\sum_{n=1}^{A-1} n^{-2k-2s}\right),}\qquad (1)$$

where $A > |a|^{1/2}$


for $n > |a|^{1/2}$ : $(n^2+a)^{-s} = n^{-2s}(1+\frac{a}{n^2})^{-s} = n^{-2s}\sum_{k=0}^\infty {-s \choose k} a^k n^{-2k}$. thus, with $A= \lfloor \, |a|^{1/2} \, \rfloor+1$, on $Re(s) > 1/2$ where everything converges absolutely :

$$\begin{eqnarray}F_a(s) -\sum_{n= 0}^{A-1} (n^2+a)^{-s} &=& \sum_{n= A}^\infty (n^2+a)^{-s} \\ &=& \sum_{n= A}^\infty \sum_{k=0}^\infty {-s \choose k} a^k n^{-2k-2s} \\ &=& \sum_{k=0}^\infty {-s \choose k} a^k \sum_{n= A}^\infty n^{-2k-2s} \\ &=& \sum_{k=0}^\infty {-s \choose k} a^k \left(\zeta(2k+2s)-\sum_{n=1}^{A-1} n^{-2k-2s}\right) \end{eqnarray}$$

now since the radius of convergence of $(1+x)^{-s}= \sum_{k=0}^\infty {-s \choose k} x^k$ is $\ge 1$ for every $s$, it means ${-s \choose k} = \mathcal{O}((1+\epsilon)^k)$, and since $\zeta(2k+2s)-\sum_{n=1}^{A-1} n^{-2k-2s} = \mathcal{O}(A^{-2k})$, we have that $(1)$ converges compactly for every $s \in \mathbb{C}$ where the summand are analytic,

and hence it defines the analytic continuation of $F_a(s)$ that is meromorphic with poles at $s = 1/2-k$

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The sum is only convergent for $p>1/2$, so for $p=1/2$ you could regularize it by adding a small positive increment: $p=1/2+\epsilon$, $\epsilon>0$.

For $a\gg 1$ you can then approximate the sum by an integral, to arrive at

$$I_{a,p}=\int_0^\infty \frac{1}{(a+x^2)^p}dx=\frac{\sqrt{\pi a } \Gamma (p-1/2)}{2 a^p\Gamma (p)},\;\;\text{for}\;\;p>1/2.$$

This compares quite well with the sum

$$S_{a,p}=\sum_{n=0}^\infty\frac{1}{(a+n^2)^p}$$

as you can see from the plot where both $I_{a,p}$ (blue) and $S_{a,p}$ (orange) are plotted as a function of $a$ for $p=0.51$.

This is for $p=1/2+\epsilon$. For the larger values of $p$ you mention no regularization is needed.

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