A versatile integral in physics and astronomy

Abstract: This paper deals with a general class of integrals, the particular cases of which are connected to outstanding problems in astronomy and physics. Reaction rate probability integrals in the theory of nuclear reaction rates, Kr\"atzel integrals in applied analysis, inverse Gaussian distribution, generalized type-1, type-2 and gamma families of distributions in statistical distribution theory, Tsallis statistics and Beck-Cohen superstatistics in statistical mechanics and the general pathway model are all shown to be connected to the integral under consideration. Representations of the integral in terms of generalized special functions such as Meijer's G-function and Fox's H-function are also pointed out.