Dilogarithm

"Li2" redirects here. For the molecule with formula Li₂, see dilithium.

See also: polylogarithm § Dilogarithm

The dilogarithm along the real axis

In mathematics, Spence's function, or dilogarithm, denoted as Li₂(z), is a particular case of the polylogarithm. Two related special functions are referred to as Spence's function, the dilogarithm itself:

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}(z)=-\int _{0}^{z}{\ln(1-u) \over u}\,\mathrm {d} u{\text{, }}z\in \mathbb {C}$

and its reflection. For $|z|<1$ an infinite series also applies (the integral definition constitutes its analytical extension to the complex plane):

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}(z)=\sum _{k=1}^{\infty }{z^{k} \over k^{2}}.$

Alternatively, the dilogarithm function is sometimes defined as

$\int _{1}^{v}{\frac {\ln t}{1-t}}\mathrm {d} t=\operatorname {Li} _{2}(1-v).$

In hyperbolic geometry the dilogarithm $\operatorname {Li} _{2}(z)$ occurs as the hyperbolic volume of an ideal simplex whose ideal vertices have cross ratio $z$. Lobachevsky's function and Clausen's function are closely related functions.

William Spence, after whom the function was named by early writers in the field, was a Scottish mathematician working in the early nineteenth century. He was at school with John Galt, who later wrote a biographical essay on Spence.

Identities

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}(z)+\operatorname {Li} _{2}(-z)={\frac {1}{2}}\operatorname {Li} _{2}(z^{2})$

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}(1-z)+\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left(1-{\frac {1}{z}}\right)=-{\frac {\ln ^{2}z}{2}}$

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}(z)+\operatorname {Li} _{2}(1-z)={\frac {{\pi }^{2}}{6}}-\ln z\cdot \ln(1-z)$

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}(-z)-\operatorname {Li} _{2}(1-z)+{\frac {1}{2}}\operatorname {Li} _{2}(1-z^{2})=-{\frac {{\pi }^{2}}{12}}-\ln z\cdot \ln(z+1)$

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}(z)+\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left({\frac {1}{z}}\right)=-{\frac {\pi ^{2}}{6}}-{\frac {1}{2}}\ln ^{2}(-z)$

Particular value identities

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left({\frac {1}{3}}\right)-{\frac {1}{6}}\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left({\frac {1}{9}}\right)={\frac {{\pi }^{2}}{18}}-{\frac {\ln ^{2}3}{6}}$

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left(-{\frac {1}{2}}\right)+{\frac {1}{6}}\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left({\frac {1}{9}}\right)=-{\frac {{\pi }^{2}}{18}}+\ln 2\cdot \ln 3-{\frac {\ln ^{2}2}{2}}-{\frac {\ln ^{2}3}{3}}$

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left({\frac {1}{4}}\right)+{\frac {1}{3}}\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left({\frac {1}{9}}\right)={\frac {{\pi }^{2}}{18}}+2\ln 2\ln 3-2\ln ^{2}2-{\frac {2}{3}}\ln ^{2}3$

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left(-{\frac {1}{3}}\right)-{\frac {1}{3}}\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left({\frac {1}{9}}\right)=-{\frac {{\pi }^{2}}{18}}+{\frac {1}{6}}\ln ^{2}3$

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left(-{\frac {1}{8}}\right)+\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left({\frac {1}{9}}\right)=-{\frac {1}{2}}\ln ^{2}{\frac {9}{8}}$

$36\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left({\frac {1}{2}}\right)-36\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left({\frac {1}{4}}\right)-12\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left({\frac {1}{8}}\right)+6\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left({\frac {1}{64}}\right)={\pi }^{2}$

Special values

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}(-1)=-{\frac {{\pi }^{2}}{12}}$

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}(0)=0$

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left({\frac {1}{2}}\right)={\frac {{\pi }^{2}}{12}}-{\frac {\ln ^{2}2}{2}}$

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}(1)={\frac {{\pi }^{2}}{6}}$

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}(2)={\frac {{\pi }^{2}}{4}}-i\pi \ln 2$

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left(-{\frac {{\sqrt {5}}-1}{2}}\right)=-{\frac {{\pi }^{2}}{15}}+{\frac {1}{2}}\ln ^{2}{\frac {{\sqrt {5}}-1}{2}}$

$=-{\frac {{\pi }^{2}}{15}}+{\frac {1}{2}}\operatorname {arcsch} ^{2}2$

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left(-{\frac {{\sqrt {5}}+1}{2}}\right)=-{\frac {{\pi }^{2}}{10}}-\ln ^{2}{\frac {{\sqrt {5}}+1}{2}}$

$=-{\frac {{\pi }^{2}}{10}}-\operatorname {arcsch} ^{2}2$

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left({\frac {3-{\sqrt {5}}}{2}}\right)={\frac {{\pi }^{2}}{15}}-\ln ^{2}{\frac {{\sqrt {5}}-1}{2}}$

$={\frac {{\pi }^{2}}{15}}-\operatorname {arcsch} ^{2}2$

$\operatorname {Li} _{2}\left({\frac {{\sqrt {5}}-1}{2}}\right)={\frac {{\pi }^{2}}{10}}-\ln ^{2}{\frac {{\sqrt {5}}-1}{2}}$

$={\frac {{\pi }^{2}}{10}}-\operatorname {arcsch} ^{2}2$

Applications

Spence's Function is commonly encountered in particle physics while calculating radiative corrections. In this context, the function is often defined with an absolute value inside the logarithm:

$\operatorname {\Phi } (x)=-\int _{0}^{x}{\frac {\ln |1-u|}{u}}\,\mathrm {d} u={\begin{cases}\operatorname {Li} _{2}(x),&x\leq 1;\\{\frac {\pi ^{2}}{3}}-{\frac {1}{2}}\ln ^{2}(x)-\operatorname {Li} _{2}({\frac {1}{x}}),&x>1.\end{cases}}$

This function also appears in combustion theory, entering the Clavin–Williams equation.

References

• Lewin, L. (1958). Dilogarithms and associated functions. Foreword by J. C. P. Miller. London: Macdonald. MR 0105524.
• Morris, Robert (1979). "The dilogarithm function of a real argument". Math. Comp. 33 (146): 778–787. doi:10.1090/S0025-5718-1979-0521291-X. MR 0521291.
• Loxton, J. H. (1984). "Special values of the dilogarithm". Acta Arith. 18 (2): 155–166. MR 0736728.
• Kirillov, Anatol N. (1994). "Dilogarithm identities". Progress of Theoretical Physics Supplement. 118: 61–142. arXiv:hep-th/9408113. doi:10.1143/PTPS.118.61.
• Osacar, Carlos; Palacian, Jesus; Palacios, Manuel (1995). "Numerical evaluation of the dilogarithm of complex argument". Celest. Mech. Dyn. Astron. 62 (1): 93–98. Bibcode:1995CeMDA..62...93O. doi:10.1007/BF00692071.
• Zagier, Don (2007). "The Dilogarithm Function" (PDF). Front. Number Theory, Physics, Geom. II: 3–65. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-30308-4_1.

Further reading

• Bloch, Spencer J. (2000). Higher regulators, algebraic K-theory, and zeta functions of elliptic curves. CRM Monograph Series. Vol. 11. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society. ISBN 0-8218-2114-8. Zbl 0958.19001.

External links

• NIST Digital Library of Mathematical Functions: Dilogarithm
• Weisstein, Eric W. "Dilogarithm". MathWorld.