Quasi-Rational Analytic Approximation for the Modified Bessel Function I1(x) with High Accuracy

A new simple and accurate expression to approximate the modified Bessel function of the first kind I1(x) is presented in this work. This new approximation is obtained as an improvement of the multi-point quasi-rational approximation technique, MPQA. This method uses the power series of the Bessel function, its asymptotic expansion, and a process of optimization to fit the parameters of a fitting function. The fitting expression is formed by elementary functions combined with rational ones. In the present work, a sum of hyperbolic functions was selected as elementary functions to capture the first two terms of the asymptotic expansion of I1(x), which represents an important improvement with respect to previous research, where just the leading term of the asymptotic series was captured. The new approximation function presents a remarkable agreement with the analytical solution I1(x), decreasing the maximum relative error in more than one order of magnitude with respect to previous similar expressions. Concretely, the relative error was reduced from 10−2 to 4×10−4, opening the possibility of applying the new improved method to other Bessel functions. It is also remarkable that the new approximation is valid for all positive and negative values of the argument.