The Hankel transform appears when one writes the multidimensional Fourier transform in
hyperspherical coordinates, which is the reason why the Hankel transform often appears in physical problems with cylindrical or spherical symmetry. Consider a function f(\mathbf{r}) of a d-dimensional vector . Its d-dimensional Fourier transform is defined asF(\mathbf{k}) = \int_{\R^d} f(\mathbf{r}) e^{-i\mathbf{k} \cdot \mathbf{r}} \,\mathrm{d}\mathbf{r}.To rewrite it in hyperspherical coordinates, we can use the decomposition of a
plane wave into d-dimensional hyperspherical harmonics Y_{l,m}:e^{-i\mathbf{k} \cdot \mathbf{r}} = (2 \pi)^{d/2} (kr)^{1-d/2}\sum_{l = 0}^{+\infty} (-i)^{l} J_{d/2-1+l}(kr)\sum_{m} Y_{l,m}(\Omega_{\mathbf{k}}) Y^{*}_{l,m}(\Omega_{\mathbf{r}}),where \Omega_{\mathbf{r}} and \Omega_{\mathbf{k}} are the sets of all hyperspherical angles in the \mathbf{r}-space and \mathbf{k}-space. This gives the following expression for the d-dimensional Fourier transform in hyperspherical coordinates:F(\mathbf{k}) = (2 \pi)^{d/2} k^{1-d/2} \sum_{l = 0}^{+\infty} (-i)^{l} \sum_{m}Y_{l,m}(\Omega_{\mathbf{k}}) \int_{0}^{+\infty}J_{d/2-1+l}(kr)r^{d/2}\mathrm{d}r \int f(\mathbf{r}) Y_{l,m}^{*}(\Omega_{\mathbf{r}}) \mathrm{d}\Omega_{\mathbf{r}}. If we expand f(\mathbf{r}) and F(\mathbf{k}) in hyperspherical harmonics:f(\mathbf{r}) = \sum_{l = 0}^{+\infty} \sum_{m}f_{l,m}(r)Y_{l,m}(\Omega_{\mathbf{r}}),\quad F(\mathbf{k}) = \sum_{l = 0}^{+\infty} \sum_{m} F_{l,m}(k) Y_{l,m}(\Omega_{\mathbf{k}}), the Fourier transform in hyperspherical coordinates simplifies tok^{d/2-1}F_{l,m}(k) = (2 \pi)^{d/2} (-i)^{l} \int_{0}^{+\infty}r^{d/2-1}f_{l,m}(r)J_{d/2-1+l}(kr)r\mathrm{d}r. This means that functions with angular dependence in form of a hyperspherical harmonic retain it upon the multidimensional Fourier transform, while the radial part undergoes the Hankel transform (up to some extra factors like r^{d/2-1}).
Special cases Fourier transform in two dimensions If a two-dimensional function is expanded in a
multipole series, :f(r, \theta) = \sum_{m=-\infty}^\infty f_m(r) e^{im\theta_{\mathbf{r}}}, then its two-dimensional Fourier transform is given byF(\mathbf k) = 2\pi \sum_m i^{-m} e^{im\theta_{\mathbf{k}}} F_m(k),whereF_m(k) = \int_0^\infty f_m(r) J_m(kr) \,r\,\mathrm{d}ris the m-th order Hankel transform of f_m(r) (in this case m plays the role of the
angular momentum, which was denoted by l in the previous section).
Fourier transform in three dimensions If a three-dimensional function is expanded in a
multipole series over
spherical harmonics, :f(r,\theta_{\mathbf{r}},\varphi_{\mathbf{r}}) = \sum_{l = 0}^{+\infty} \sum_{m=-l}^{+l}f_{l,m}(r)Y_{l,m}(\theta_{\mathbf{r}},\varphi_{\mathbf{r}}), then its three-dimensional Fourier transform is given byF(k,\theta_{\mathbf{k}},\varphi_{\mathbf{k}}) = (2 \pi)^{3/2} \sum_{l = 0}^{+\infty} (-i)^{l} \sum_{m=-l}^{+l} F_{l,m}(k) Y_{l,m}(\theta_{\mathbf{k}},\varphi_{\mathbf{k}}),where\sqrt{k} F_{l,m}(k) = \int_{0}^{+\infty}\sqrt{r} f_{l,m}(r)J_{l+1/2}(kr)r\mathrm{d}r.is the Hankel transform of \sqrt{r} f_{l,m}(r) of order (l+1/2). This kind of Hankel transform of
half-integer order is also known as the spherical Bessel transform.
Fourier transform in dimensions (radially symmetric case) If a -dimensional function does not depend on angular coordinates, then its -dimensional Fourier transform also does not depend on angular coordinates and is given byk^{d/2-1}F(k) = (2 \pi)^{d/2} \int_{0}^{+\infty}r^{d/2-1}f(r)J_{d/2-1}(kr)r\mathrm{d}r.which is the Hankel transform of r^{d/2-1}f(r) of order (d/2-1) up to a factor of (2 \pi)^{d/2} .
2D functions inside a limited radius If a two-dimensional function is expanded in a
multipole series and the expansion coefficients are sufficiently smooth near the origin and zero outside a radius , the radial part may be expanded into a
power series of : :f_m(r)= r^m \sum_{t \ge 0} f_{m,t} \left(1 - \left(\tfrac{r}{R}\right)^2 \right)^t, \quad 0 \le r \le R, such that the two-dimensional Fourier transform of becomes :\begin{align} F(\mathbf k) &= 2\pi\sum_m i^{-m} e^{i m\theta_k} \sum_t f_{m,t} \int_0^R r^m \left(1 - \left(\tfrac{r}{R}\right)^2 \right)^t J_m(kr) r\,\mathrm{d}r && \\ &= 2\pi\sum_m i^{-m} e^{i m\theta_k} R^{m+2} \sum_t f_{m,t} \int_0^1 x^{m+1} (1-x^2)^t J_m(kxR) \,\mathrm{d}x && (x = \tfrac{r}{R})\\ &= 2\pi\sum_m i^{-m} e^{i m\theta_k} R^{m+2} \sum_t f_{m,t} \frac{t!2^t}{(kR)^{1+t}} J_{m+t+1}(kR), \end{align} where the last equality follows from §6.567.1 of.{{cite book :r/R\equiv \sin\theta,\quad 1-(r/R)^2 = \cos^2\theta, the Fourier-Chebyshev series coefficients emerge as :f(r)\equiv r^m \sum_j g_{m,j} \cos(j\theta)= r^m\sum_jg_{m,j} T_j(\cos\theta). Using the re-expansion : \cos(j\theta) = 2^{j-1}\cos^j\theta-\frac{j}{1}2^{j-3}\cos^{j-2}\theta +\frac{j}{2}\binom{j-3}{1}2^{j-5}\cos^{j-4}\theta - \frac{j}{3}\binom{j-4}{2}2^{j-7}\cos^{j-6}\theta + \cdots yields expressed as sums of . This is one flavor of fast Hankel transform techniques. ==Relation to the Fourier and Abel transforms==