Quaternionic spherical wave functions

The scalar spherical wave functions (SWFs) are solutions to the scalar Helmholtz equation obtained by the method of separation of variables in spherical polar coordinates. These functions are complete and orthogonal over a sphere, and they can, therefore, be used as a set of basis functions in solving boundary value problems by spherical wave expansions. In this work, we show that there exists a theory of functions with quaternionic values and of three real variables, which is determined by the Moisil–Theodorescu‐type operator with quaternionic variable coefficients, and which is intimately related to the radial, angular and azimuthal wave equations. As a result, we explain the connections between the null solutions of these equations, on one hand, and the quaternionic hyperholomorphic and anti‐hyperholomorphic functions, on the other. We further introduce the quaternionic spherical wave functions (QSWFs), which refine and extend the SWFs. Each function is a linear combination of SWFs and products of ‐hyperholomorphic functions by regular spherical Bessel functions. We prove that the QSWFs are orthogonal in the unit ball with respect to a particular bilinear form. Also, we perform a detailed analysis of the related properties of QSWFs. We conclude the paper establishing analogues of the basic integral formulae of complex analysis such as Borel–Pompeiu's and Cauchy's, for this version of quaternionic function theory. As an application, we present some plot simulations that illustrate the results of this work. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.