Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/paper-2/4/b/ii/solution

Use the branch from part (i) and close the real-axis path with a large upper semicircle, indenting clockwise around and . On the segment between them, take the upper-bank value of the branch cut. This is an instance of square-root endpoint integrals by an upper-half-plane contour.
Figure 1.
Upper-half-plane contour, clockwise endpoint indentations, and the two enclosed poles; indentation sizes are exaggerated
. Details.
The contributions can be controlled separately. Since , the large arc contributes . Near either branch point, , so an arc of length contributes . On the upper bank of ,
which is odd in , so its integral is zero. On the exterior real intervals , while the rational numerator is odd. Hence and the two exterior contributions sum to .
The enclosed residues use and :
The residue theorem gives . Therefore
As an independent check, converts the integral to
which yields the same value. This check also confirms the branch signs and the factor of two in the contour argument.

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