I am interested in the series $$\sum_{n\geq 1}I_n(x)\lambda^n$$ which is not the full generating series of the modified Bessel function of the first kind because it starts from $n=1$ and not at $-\infty$. If we can not find a closed form for this series, what relevant information can we extract from it?
1 Answer
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The modified Bessel functions satisfy the recurrence
$$ I_n(x) - \frac{2(1+n)}{x} I_{n+1}(x) - I_{n+2}(x) = 0 $$ which translates to a first-order differential equation for $g(\lambda) = \sum_{n=0}^\infty I_n(x) \lambda^n$ (note that I'm including $n=0$ in this sum):
$$ 2 \lambda^2 g'(\lambda) + (1-\lambda^2) x g(\lambda) = x I_0(x) + \lambda x I_1(x) $$
Thus we get $g(\lambda) = \exp(x (\lambda+1/\lambda)/2) u(\lambda)$ where
$$ u'(\lambda) = \frac{x}{2 \lambda^2} \exp(-x(\lambda+1/\lambda)/2) (I_0(x) + \lambda I_1(x)) $$