hankel transform (fourier bessel of zero order) question

ElDonAntonio

Senior member
Aug 4, 2001
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Is there anyone who would know by any chance the steps to find the hankel transform (also called fourier-bessel of zero order) of a function? I know the equation of the Hankel transform, but I just don't understand how to simplify it.
I'm actually trying to find the hankel transform of a dirac's delta. I found the answer on the web, but I'd like to know how to get to it myself.
 

uart

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May 26, 2000
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Integral transforms, like the Fourier and Hankel transforms, are not always easy to compute (at least not in closed form). However when dealing with the case of the "dirac delta" (aka "unit impluse" function) then any integral transform becomes a very easy operation. If you fully understand what the dirac delta function is and how it works then you will understand why it is the most easy of all functions to integral transform.

So the short anwser is: Given another function other than the impluse and the Hankel transform may well be difficult to compute (due to the fact that it gets multiplied by a Bessel function). But for the dirac delta function it's easy all the same.

Why is it easy? Well in general all integral transforms take the form of :

F(w) = Integral(x= -infty..+infty, f(x) * K(w,x) dx),

where F(w) is the transform of f(x).


In the specific case where f(x) is a dirac delta, eg f(x) = delta(x-a), then irrespective of the complexity or otherwise of K(w,x), the integral is still very easy to find. It follows directly from the properties of the delta function that the above integral is simply equal to K(w,a). That is, F(w) = K(w,a) is the transform of f(x) = delta(x-a), and that is true regardless of what particular type of integral transform that you're doing ( that is, the exact nature of K(w,x) ).

If you're still unsure then I'd recommend a little bit of reading and studying of the properties of the dirac Delta function, particularly those relating to it's integration, to become fully familiar with why it is so easy to integral transform.
 

rimshaker

Senior member
Dec 7, 2001
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Wow, only time i touched any Hankel transforms was my non-linear PDE class. One of our homework problems was to solve a zero-order Hankel transform for a delta function. The answer is simply 1, but I can't for the life of me remember how the proof went without my homework papers. That was a hard class... loved it!
 

Mercurien

Senior member
Jun 26, 2003
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uart nailed it on the head. If you are transforming delta(x-a), as long as your area of integration includes a, then by definition of the dirac delta, the transform is K(w,a).
 

ElDonAntonio

Senior member
Aug 4, 2001
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Hi guys,

thanks for all the answers! actually, the Off Topic guys were a little faster, but it's still appreciated. Now that I have a little crowd of knowledgeable people, would anyone of you guys be able to demonstrate the polar coordinate properties of delta functions? These were the two only questions I was unable to answer before submitting my paper:

delta(r, theta) = delta(r-r0)delta(theta-theta0)/r

(second question to come later, I don't have the sheet in front of me right now)

These formulas are available everywhere, but no book seems to actually demonstrate them or at least hint at how to get there. I end up with a mess of e^cos(theta) and complex numbers.