Complex Analysis and Conformal Mapping

by Peter J. Olver
University of Minnesota

1. Introduction.
The term complex analysis refers to the calculus of complex-valued functions f (z)
depending on a single complex variable z. To the novice, it may seem that this subject
should merely be a simple reworking of standard real variable theory that you learned
in first year calculus. However, this nave first impression could not be further from the
truth! Complex analysis is the culmination of a deep and far-ranging study of the fundamental notions of complex differentiation and integration, and has an elegance and beauty
not found in the real domain. For instance, complex functions are necessarily analytic,
meaning that they can be represented by convergent power series, and hence are infinitely
differentiable. Thus, difficulties with degree of smoothness, strange discontinuities, subtle
convergence phenomena, and other pathological properties of real functions never arise in
the complex realm.
The driving force behind many of the applications of complex analysis is the remarkable connection between complex functions and harmonic functions of two variables,
a.k.a. solutions of the planar Laplace equation. To wit, the real and imaginary parts of any
complex analytic function are automatically harmonic. In this manner, complex functions
provide a rich lode of additional solutions to the two-dimensional Laplace equation, which
can be exploited in a wide range of physical and mathematical applications. One of the
most useful consequences stems from the elementary observation that the composition of
two complex functions is also a complex function. We re-interpret this operation as a
complex change of variables, producing a conformal mapping that preserves (signed) angles in the Euclidean plane. Conformal mappings can be effectively used for constructing
solutions to the Laplace equation on complicated planar domains that appear in a wide
range of physical problems, including fluid mechanics, aerodynamics, thermomechanics,
electrostatics, and elasticity.
We assume the reader is familiar with the basics of complex numbers and complex
arithmetic (as in [17; Appendix A]), and commence our exposition with the basics of complex functions and their differential calculus. We then proceed to develop the theory and
applications of conformal mappings. The final section contains a brief introduction to
complex integration and a few of its applications. Further developments and additional
details and results can be found in a wide variety of texts devoted to complex analysis,
including [1, 10, 19, 20].

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2. Complex Functions.
Our principal objects of study are complex-valued functions f (z), depending on a
single complex variable z = x + i y. In general, the function f : C will be defined on
an open subdomain, z C, of the complex plane.
Any complex function can be uniquely written as a complex combination
f (z) = f (x + i y) = u(x, y) + i v(x, y),

(2.1)

of two real functions, each depending on the two real variables x, y :

its real part

u(x, y) = Re f (z)

and its imaginary part

v(x, y) = Im f (z).

For example, the monomial function f (z) = z can be expanded and written as
and so

z 3 = (x + i y)3 = (x3 3 x y 2 ) + i (3 x2 y y 3 ),
Re z 3 = x3 3 x y 2 ,

Im z 3 = 3 x2 y y 3 .

Many of the well-known functions appearing in real-variable calculus polynomials,

rational functions, exponentials, trigonometric functions, logarithms, and many more
have natural complex extensions. For example, complex polynomials
p(z) = an z n + an1 z n1 + + a1 z + a0

(2.2)

are complex linear combinations (meaning that the coefficients ak are allowed to be complex
numbers) of the basic monomial functions z k = (x+ i y)k . Similarly, we have already made
use of complex exponentials such as
ez = ex+ i y = ex cos y + i ex sin y,
when solving differential equations and in Fourier analysis. Further examples will appear
shortly.
There are several ways to motivate the link between harmonic functions u(x, y), meaning solutions of the two-dimensional Laplace equation
2u 2u
+ 2 = 0,
(2.3)
x2
y
and complex functions f (z). One natural starting point is to return to the dAlembert
solution of the one-dimensional wave equation, which was based on the factorization
u =

2
2 2
 = t c x = (t c x ) (t + c x )

of the linear wave operator. The two-dimensional Laplace operator = x2 + y2 has

essentially the same form, except for an ostensibly unimportant change in sign . The
Laplace operator admits a complex factorization,
= x2 + y2 = (x i y ) (x + i y ),

Although this trivial change in sign has significant ramifications for the analytical properties of (real) solutions.

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into a product of first order differential operators, with complex wave speeds c = i .
Mimicking the solution method for the wave equation, we anticipate that the solutions to
the Laplace equation (2.3) should be expressed in the form
u(x, y) = f (x + i y) + g(x i y),

(2.4)

i.e., a linear combination of functions of the complex variable z = x + i y and its complex
conjugate z = x i y. The functions f (x + i y) and g(x i y) formally satisfy the first
order complex partial differential equations
f
f
=i
,
x
y

g
g
= i
,
x
y

(2.5)

and hence (2.4) does indeed define a complex-valued solution to the Laplace equation.
In most applications, we are searching for real solutions, and so our complex dAlemberttype formula (2.4) is not entirely satisfactory. As we know, a complex number z = x + i y
is real if and only if it equals its own conjugate: z = z. Thus, the solution (2.4) will be
real if and only if
f (x + i y) + g(x i y) = u(x, y) = u(x, y) = f (x + i y) + g(x i y).
Now, the complex conjugation operation interchanges x + i y and x i y, and so we expect
the first term f (x + i y) to be a function of x i y, while the second term g(x i y) will
be a function of x + i y. Therefore , to equate the two sides of this equation, we should
require
g(x i y) = f (x + i y),
and so
u(x, y) = f (x + i y) + f (x + i y) = 2 Re f (x + i y).
Dropping the inessential factor of 2, we conclude that a real solution to the two-dimensional
Laplace equation can be written as the real part of a complex function. A more direct
proof of the following key result will appear below.
Proposition 2.1. If f (z) is a complex function, then its real part
u(x, y) = Re f (x + i y)

(2.6)

is a harmonic function.
The imaginary part of a complex function is also harmonic. This is because


Im f (z) = Re i f (z)

is the real part of the complex function

i f (z) = i [ u(x, y) + i v(x, y)] = v(x, y) i u(x, y).

We are ignoring the fact that f and g are not quite uniquely determined since one can add
and subtract a common constant. This does not affect the argument in any significant way.

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Therefore, if f (z) is any complex function, we can write it as a complex combination

f (z) = f (x + i y) = u(x, y) + i v(x, y),
of two inter-related real harmonic functions: u(x, y) = Re f (z) and v(x, y) = Im f (z).
Before delving into the many remarkable properties of complex functions, let us look
at some of the most basic examples. In each case, the reader can directly check that the
harmonic functions provided by the real and imaginary parts of the complex function are
indeed solutions to the two-dimensional Laplace equation.
Examples of Complex Functions
(a) Harmonic Polynomials: As noted above, any complex polynomial is a linear combination, as in (2.2), of the basic complex monomials
z n = (x + i y)n = un (x, y) + i vn (x, y).

(2.7)

Their real and imaginary parts, un (x, y), vn(x, y), are known as harmonic polynomials.
Their general expression is obtained by expanding using the Binomial Formula:
z n = (x + i y)n

 
 
n n3
n n2
2
x
( i y)3 + + ( i y)n
x
( i y) +
= x + nx
( i y) +
3
2
 
 
n n3 3
n n2 2
n
n1
x
y + ,
x
y i
= x + i nx
y
3
2
n

n1

where

 
n!
n
=
k ! (n k) !
k

(2.8)

are the usual binomial coefficients. Separating the real and imaginary terms, we find the
explicit formulae
 
 
n n4 4
n n2 2
n
n
x
y + ,
x
y +
Re z = x
4
2
 
 
(2.9)
n n5 5
n n3 3
n
n1
x
y + ,
x
y +
Im z = n x
y
5
3
for the two independent harmonic polynomials of degree n.
(b) Rational Functions: Ratios
f (z) =

p(z)
q(z)

(2.10)

of complex polynomials provide a large variety of harmonic functions. The simplest case
is
x
y
1
= 2
i 2
,
(2.11)
2
z
x +y
x + y2
whose real and imaginary parts are graphed in Figure 1. Note that these functions have
an interesting singularity at the origin x = y = 0, but are harmonic everywhere else.
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1
Re z
Figure 1.

1
Im z
1
Real and Imaginary Parts of f (z) = z .

A slightly more complicated example is the function

z1
.
(2.12)
z+1
To write out (2.12) in standard form (2.1), we multiply and divide by the complex conjugate
of the denominator, leading to
f (z) =

(z 1)( z + 1)
| z |2 + z z 1
x2 + y 2 1
2y
z1
=
=
=
+
i
.
z+1
(z + 1)( z + 1)
| z + 1 |2
(x + 1)2 + y 2
(x + 1)2 + y 2
(2.13)
Again, the real and imaginary parts are both harmonic functions away from the singularity
at x = 1, y = 0. Incidentally, the preceding maneuver can always be used to find the
real and imaginary parts of general rational functions.
(c) Complex Exponentials: Eulers formula
f (z) =

ez = ex cos y + i ex sin y

(2.14)

for the complex exponential yields two important harmonic functions: ex cos y and ex sin y,
which are graphed in Figure 2. More generally, writing out ec z for a complex constant
c = a + i b produces the complex exponential function
ec z = ea xb y cos(b x + a y) + i ea xb y sin(b x + a y),

(2.15)

whose real and imaginary parts are harmonic functions for arbitrary a, b R. Some of
these were found by applying the separation of variables method to the planar Laplace
equation in Cartesian coordinates. .
(d) Complex Trigonometric Functions: These are defined in terms of the complex exponential by
e i z + e i z
cos z =
= cos x cosh y i sin x sinh y,
2
(2.16)
e i z e i z
= sin x cosh y + i cos x sinh y.
sin z =
2i
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Figure 2.

Real and Imaginary Parts of ez .

The resulting harmonic functions are products of trigonometric and hyperbolic functions,
and can all be written as linear combinations of the harmonic functions (2.15) derived from
the complex exponential. Note that when z = x is real, so y = 0, these functions reduce
to the usual real trigonometric functions cos x and sin x.
(e) Complex Logarithm: In a similar fashion, the complex logarithm is a complex extension of the usual real natural (i.e., base e) logarithm. In terms of polar coordinates
z = r e i , the complex logarithm has the form
log z = log(r e i ) = log r + log e i = log r + i .

(2.17)

Thus, the logarithm of a complex number has real part

Re (log z) = log r = log | z | =

1
2

log(x2 + y 2 ),

which is a well-defined harmonic function on all of R 2 save for a logarithmic singularity at

the origin x = y = 0.
The imaginary part
Im (log z) = = ph z
of the complex logarithm is the polar angle, known in complex analysis as the phase or
argument of z. (Although most texts use the latter name, we much prefer the former,
for reasons outlined in the introduction.) It is also not defined at the origin x = y = 0.
Moreover, the phase is a multiply-valued harmonic function elsewhere, since it is only
specified up to integer multiples of 2 . Each nonzero complex number z 6= 0 has an
infinite number of possible values for its phase, and hence an infinite number of possible
complex logarithms log z, differing from each other by an integer multiple of 2 i , which
reflects the fact that e2 i = 1. In particular, if z = x > 0 is real and positive, then
log z = log x agrees with the real logarithm, provided we choose ph x = 0. Alternative
choices append some integer multiple of 2 i , and so ordinary real, positive numbers x > 0
also have complex logarithms! On the other hand, if z = x < 0 is real and negative, then
log z = log | x | + (2 k + 1) i , for k Z, is complex no matter which value of ph z is chosen.
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Re (log z) = log | z |
Figure 3.

Im (log z) = ph z
Real and Imaginary Parts of log z.

(This explains why one avoids defining the logarithm of a negative number in first year
calculus!)
As the point z circles once around the origin in a counter-clockwise direction, Im log z =
ph z = increases by 2 . Thus, the graph of ph z can be likened to a parking ramp with
infinitely many levels, spiraling ever upwards as one circumambulates the origin; Figure 3
attempts to illustrate it. At the origin, the complex logarithm exhibits a type of singularity
known as a logarithmic branch point, the branches referring to the infinite number of
possible values that can be assigned to log z at any nonzero point.
(f ) Roots and Fractional Powers: A similar branching phenomenon occurs with the
fractionalpowers and roots of complex numbers. The simplest case is the square root
function
nonzero complex number z 6= 0 has two different possible square
z. Every
roots: z and z. Writing z = r e i in polar coordinates, we find that



i
/2
,
(2.18)
z = r ei = r e
= r cos + i sin
2
2
i.e., we take the square root of the modulus and halve the phase:
  p

 z  = |z| = r,
ph z = 12 ph z =

1
2

Since = ph z is only defined up to an integer multiple of 2 , the angle 12 is only defined

up to an integer multiple of . The even and odd multiples account for the two possible
values of the square root.
In this case, ifwe start at some z 6= 0 and circle once around the origin, we increase
ph z by 2 , but ph z only increases by . Thus, at the end of our circuit, we arrive at the
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Figure 4.

Real and Imaginary Parts of

z.

other square root z. Circling the originagain increases ph z by a further 2 , and hence
brings us back to the original square root z. Therefore, the graph of the multiply-valued
square root function will look like a parking ramp with only two interconnected levels, as
sketched in Figure 4. The origin represents a branch point of degree 2 for the square root
function.
The preceding list of elementary examples is far from exhaustive. Lack of space will
preclude us from studying the remarkable properties of complex versions of the gamma
function, Airy functions, Bessel functions, and Legendre functions that appear later in
the text, as well as the Riemann zeta function, elliptic functions, modular functions, and
many, many other important and fascinating functions arising in complex analysis and its
manifold applications. The interested reader is referred to [15, 16, 21].

3. Complex Differentiation.
The bedrock of complex function theory is the notion of the complex derivative. Complex differentiation is defined in the same manner as the usual calculus limit definition of
the derivative of a real function. Yet, despite a superficial similarity, complex differentiation is a profoundly different theory, displaying an elegance and depth not shared by its
real progenitor.
Definition 3.1. A complex function f (z) is differentiable at a point z C if and
only if the following limiting difference quotient exists:
f (z) = lim

wz

f (w) f (z)
.
wz

(3.1)

The key feature of this definition is that the limiting value f (z) of the difference
quotient must be independent of how w converges to z. On the real line, there are only
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z + ik

z+h

Figure 5.

Complex Derivative Directions.

two directions to approach a limiting point either from the left or from the right. These
lead to the concepts of left- and right-handed derivatives and their equality is required for
the existence of the usual derivative of a real function. In the complex plane, there are an
infinite variety of directions to approach the point z, and the definition requires that all
of these directional derivatives must agree. This requirement imposes severe restrictions
on complex derivatives, and is the source of their remarkable properties.
To understand the consequences of this definition, let us first see what happens when
we approach z along the two simplest directions horizontal and vertical. If we set
w = z + h = (x + h) + i y,

where h is real,

then w z along a horizontal line as h 0, as sketched in Figure 5. If we write out

f (z) = u(x, y) + i v(x, y)
in terms of its real and imaginary parts, then we must have
f (z + h) f (z)
f (x + h + i y) f (x + i y)
= lim
h0
h

0
h
h


u(x + h, y) u(x, y)
u
v(x + h, y) v(x, y)
v
f
= lim
=
+i
+i
=
,
h0
h
h
x
x
x

f (z) = lim

which follows from the usual definition of the (real) partial derivative. On the other hand,
if we set
w = z + i k = x + i (y + k),
where k is real,
then w z along a vertical line as k 0. Therefore, we must also have


f (x + i (y + k)) f (x + i y)
f (z + i k) f (z)

= lim i
f (z) = lim
k0
k0
ik
k


v(x, y + k) v(x, y)
v
u(x, y + k) u(x, y)
u
f
= lim
=
i
i
= i
.
h0
k
k
y
y
y
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When we equate the real and imaginary parts of these two distinct formulae for the complex
derivative f (z), we discover that the real and imaginary components of f (z) must satisfy a
certain homogeneous linear system of partial differential equations, named after Augustin
Louis Cauchy and Bernhard Riemann, two of the founders of modern complex analysis.
Theorem 3.2. A complex function f (z) = u(x, y)+ i v(x, y) depending on z = x+ i y
has a complex derivative f (z) if and only if its real and imaginary parts are continuously
differentiable and satisfy the CauchyRiemann equations
v
u
=
,
x
y

u
v
=
.
y
x

(3.2)

In this case, the complex derivative of f (z) is equal to any of the following expressions:
f (z) =

f
u
v
f
v
u
=
+i
= i
=
i
.
x
x
x
y
y
y

(3.3)

The proof of the converse that any function whose real and imaginary components
satisfy the CauchyRiemann equations is differentiable will be omitted, but can be
found in any basic text on complex analysis, e.g., [1, 10, 20].
Remark : It is worth pointing out that the CauchyRiemann equations (3.3) imply
f
f
= i
, which, reassuringly, agrees with the first equation in (2.5).
that f satisfies
x
y
Example 3.3. Consider the elementary function
z 3 = (x3 3 x y 2 ) + i (3 x2 y y 3 ).

Its real part u = x3 3 x y 2 and imaginary part v = 3 x2 y y 3 satisfy the CauchyRiemann

equations (3.2), since
u
v
= 3 x2 3 y 2 =
,
x
y

u
v
= 6xy =
.
y
x

Theorem 3.2 implies that f (z) = z 3 is complex differentiable. Not surprisingly, its derivative turns out to be
f (z) =

v
v
u
u
+i
=
i
= (3 x2 3 y 2 ) + i (6 x y) = 3 z 2 .
x
x
y
y

Fortunately, the complex derivative obeys all of the usual rules that you learned in
real-variable calculus. For example,
d n
d cz
d
1
(3.4)
z = n z n1 ,
e = c ec z ,
log z = ,
dz
dz
dz
z
and so on. Here, the power n can be non-integral or even, in view of the identity
z n = en log z , complex, while c is any complex constant. The exponential formulae (2.16)
for the complex trigonometric functions implies that they also satisfy the standard rules
d
cos z = sin z,
dz
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d
sin z = cos z.
dz

(3.5)
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Peter J. Olver

The formulae for differentiating sums, products, ratios, inverses, and compositions of complex functions are all identical to their real counterparts, with similar proofs. Thus, thankfully, you dont need to learn any new rules for performing complex differentiation!
Remark : There are many examples of seemingly reasonable functions which do not
have a complex derivative. The simplest is the complex conjugate function
f (z) = z = x i y.

Its real and imaginary parts do not satisfy the CauchyRiemann equations, and hence z
does not have a complex derivative. More generally, any function f (z, z) that explicitly
depends on the complex conjugate variable z is not complex-differentiable.
Power Series and Analyticity
A remarkable feature of complex differentiation is that the existence of one complex
derivative automatically implies the existence of infinitely many! All complex functions
f (z) are infinitely differentiable and, in fact, analytic where defined. The reason for this
surprising and profound fact will, however, not become evident until we learn the basics
of complex integration in Section 7. In this section, we shall take analyticity as a given,
and investigate some of its principal consequences.
Definition 3.4. A complex function f (z) is called analytic at a point z0 C if it
has a power series expansion
2

f (z) = a0 + a1 (z z0 ) + a2 (z z0 ) + a3 (z z0 ) + =
that converges for all z sufficiently close to z0 .

n=0

an (z z0 )n ,

(3.6)

In practice, the standard ratio or root tests for convergence of (real) series that you
learned in ordinary calculus, [1, 2], can be applied to determine where a given (complex)
power series converges. We note that if f (z) and g(z) are analytic at a point z0 , so is their
sum f (z) + g(z), product f (z) g(z) and, provided g(z0 ) 6= 0, ratio f (z)/g(z).

Example 3.5. All of the real power series found in elementary calculus carry over
to the complex versions of the functions. For example,

X
zn
e = 1+z + z + z + =
n!
n=0
z

1
2

1
6

(3.7)

is the power series for the exponential function based at z0 = 0. A straightforward application of the ratio test proves that the series converges for all z. On the other hand, the
power series

X
1
2
4
6
= 1z +z z + =
(1)k z 2 k ,
(3.8)
2
z +1
k=0

converges inside the unit disk, where | z | < 1, and diverges outside, where | z | > 1. Again,
convergence is established through the ratio test. The ratio test is inconclusive when
| z | = 1, and we shall leave the more delicate question of precisely where on the unit disk
this complex series converges to a more advanced treatment, e.g., [1, 10].
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In general, there are three possible options for the domain of convergence of a complex
power series (3.6):
(a) The series converges for all z.
(b) The series converges inside a disk | z z0 | < of radius > 0 centered at z0 and
diverges for all | z z0 | > outside the disk. The series may converge at some
(but not all) of the points on the boundary of the disk where | z z0 | = .
(c) The series only converges, trivially, at z = z0 .
The number is known as the radius of convergence of the series. In case (a), we say
= , while in case (c), = 0, and the series
Pdoesnnot represent an analytic function.
An example that has = 0 is the power series
n! z . See [1, 10, 20] for further details.
Remarkably, the radius of convergence for the power series of a known analytic function
f (z) can be determined by inspection, without recourse to any fancy convergence tests!
Namely, is equal to the distance from z0 to the nearest singularity of f (z), meaning
a point where the function fails to be analytic. In particular, the radius of convergence
= if and only if f (z) is an entire function, meaning that it is analytic for all z C
and has no singularities; examples include polynomials, ez , cos z, and sin z. On the other
hand, the rational function
f (z) =

z2

1
1
=
+1
(z + i )(z i )

has singularities at z = i , and so its power series (3.8) has radius of convergence = 1,
which is the distance from z0 = 0 to the singularities. Thus, the extension of the theory
of power series to the complex plane serves to explain the apparent mystery of why, as
a real function, (1 + x2 )1 is well-defined and analytic for all real x, but its power series
only converges on the interval ( 1, 1 ). It is the complex singularities that prevent its
convergence when | x | > 1. If we expand (z 2 + 1)1 in a power series at some other point,
say z0 = 1 + 2 i , then we
need to determine which singularity
is closest. We compute
| i z0 | = | 1 i | = 2, while | i z0 | = | 1 3 i | = 10, and so the radius of

convergence = 2 is the smaller. This allows us to determine the radius of convergence

in the absence of any explicit formula for its (rather complicated) Taylor expansion at
z0 = 1 + 2 i .
There are, in fact, only three possible types of singularities of a complex function f (z):
Pole. A singular point z = z0 is called a pole of order 0 < n Z if and only if
f (z) =

h(z)
,
(z z0 )n

(3.9)

where h(z) is analytic at z = z0 and h(z0 ) 6= 0. The simplest example of such a

function is f (z) = a (z z0 )n for a 6= 0 a complex constant.
Branch point. We have already
encountered the two basic types: algebraic branch

n
points, such as the function z at z0 = 0, and logarithmic branch points such as
log z at z0 = 0. The degree of the branch point is n in the first case and in the
second. In general, the power function z a = ea log z is analytic at z0 = 0 if a Z is
an integer; has an algebraic branch point of degree q the origin if a = p/q Q \ Z is
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Peter J. Olver

rational, non-integral with 0 6= p Z and 2 q Z having no common factors, and

a logarithmic branch point of infinite degree at z = 0 when a C \ Q is not rational.
Essential singularity. By definition, a singularity is essential if it is not a pole or a
branch point. The quintessential example is the essential singularity of the function
e1/z at z0 = 0. The behavior of a complex function near an essential singularity is
quite complicated, [1].
Example 3.6. The complex function
f (z) =

ez
ez
=
z3 z2 5 z 3
(z 3)(z + 1)2

is analytic everywhere except for singularities at the points z = 3 and z = 1, where its
denominator vanishes. Since
f (z) =

h1 (z)
,
z3

where

h1 (z) =

ez
(z + 1)2

1 3
e 6= 0, we conclude that z = 3 is a simple (order 1)
is analytic at z = 3 and h1 (3) = 16
pole. Similarly,
h2 (z)
ez
f (z) =
,
where
h
(z)
=
2
(z + 1)2
z3

is analytic at z = 1 with h2 (1) = 41 e1 6= 0, we see that the point z = 1 is a double

(order 2) pole.

A complicated complex function can have a variety of singularities. For example, the
function
2
e 1/(z1)
f (z) = 2
(3.10)
(z + 1) (z + 2)2/3
has simple poles at z = i , a branch point of degree 3 at z = 2, and an essential
singularity at z = 1.
As in the real case, and unlike Fourier series, convergent power series can always be
repeatedly term-wise differentiated. Therefore, given the convergent series (3.6), we have
the corresponding series
f (z) = a1 + 2 a2 (z z0 ) + 3 a3 (z z0 )2 + 4 a4 (z z0 )3 +

X
=
(n + 1) an+1 (z z0 )n ,
n=0

f (z) = 2 a2 + 6 a3 (z z0 ) + 12 a4 (z z0 )2 + 20 a5 (z z0 )3 +

X
=
(n + 1)(n + 2) an+2 (z z0 )n ,

(3.11)

n=0

and so on, for its derivatives. Moreover, the differentiated series all have the same radius of
convergence as the original. As a consequence, we deduce the following important result.
Theorem 3.7. Any analytic function is infinitely differentiable.
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z0

Figure 6.

Radius of Convergence.

In particular, when we substitute z = z0 into the successively differentiated series, we

discover that a0 = f (z0 ), a1 = f (z0 ), a2 = 12 f (z0 ), and, in general,
f (n) (z)
.
n!
Therefore, a convergent power series (3.6) is, inevitably, the usual Taylor series
an =

f (z) =

X
f (n) (z0 )
(z z0 )n ,
n!
n=0

(3.12)

(3.13)

for the function f (z) at the point z0 .

Let us conclude this section by summarizing the fundamental theorem that characterizes complex functions. A complete, rigorous proof relies on complex integration theory,
which is the topic of Section 7.
Theorem 3.8. Let C be an open set. The following properties are equivalent:
(a) The function f (z) has a continuous complex derivative f (z) for all z .
(b) The real and imaginary parts of f (z) have continuous partial derivatives and satisfy
the CauchyRiemann equations (3.2) in .
(c) The function f (z) is analytic for all z , and so is infinitely differentiable and has a
convergent power series expansion at each point z0 . The radius of convergence
is at least as large as the distance from z0 to the boundary , as in Figure 6.
From now on, we reserve the term complex function to signifiy one that satisfies the
conditions of Theorem 3.8. Sometimes one of the equivalent adjectives analytic or holomorphic is added for emphasis. From now on, all complex functions are assumed to be
analytic everywhere on their domain of definition, except, possibly, at certain singularities.

4. Harmonic Functions.
We began by motivating the analysis of complex functions through applications to
the solution of the two-dimensional Laplace equation. Let us now formalize the precise
relationship between the two subjects.
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Theorem 4.1. If f (z) = u(x, y) + i v(x, y) is any complex analytic function, then
its real and imaginary parts, u(x, y), v(x, y), are both harmonic functions.
Proof : Differentiating the CauchyRiemann equations (3.2), and invoking the equality of mixed partial derivatives, we find that
 
 
 


2u
v
2v

u
2u
u
v
=
=
=

=
=
.
x2
x x
x y
x y
y x
y
y
y 2
Therefore, u is a solution to the Laplace equation uxx + uyy = 0. The proof for v is
similar.
Q.E.D.
Thus, every complex function gives rise to two harmonic functions. It is, of course, of
interest to know whether we can invert this procedure. Given a harmonic function u(x, y),
does there exist a harmonic function v(x, y) such that f = u + i v is a complex analytic
function? If so, the harmonic function v(x, y) is known as a harmonic conjugate to u. The
harmonic conjugate is found by solving the CauchyRiemann equations
u
v
=
,
x
y

v
u
=
,
y
x

(4.1)

which, for a prescribed function u(x, y), constitutes an inhomogeneous linear system of
partial differential equations for v(x, y). As such, it is usually not hard to solve, as the
following example illustrates.
Example 4.2. As the reader can verify, the harmonic polynomial
u(x, y) = x3 3 x2 y 3 x y 2 + y 3
satisfies the Laplace equation everywhere. To find a harmonic conjugate, we solve the
CauchyRiemann equations (4.1). First of all,
u
v
=
= 3 x2 + 6 x y 3 y 2 ,
x
y
and hence, by direct integration with respect to x,
v(x, y) = x3 + 3 x2 y 3 x y 2 + h(y),
where h(y) the constant of integration is a function of y alone. To determine h we
substitute our formula into the second CauchyRiemann equation:
3 x2 6 x y + h (y) =

u
v
=
= 3 x2 6 x y 3 y 2 .
y
x

Therefore, h (y) = 3 y 2 , and so h(y) = y 3 + c, where c is a real constant. We conclude

that every harmonic conjugate to u(x, y) has the form
v(x, y) = x3 + 3 x2 y 3 x y 2 y 3 + c.

Theorem 3.8 allows us to differentiate u and v as often as desired.

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Note that the corresponding complex function

u(x, y) + i v(x, y) = (x3 3 x2 y 3 x y 2 + y 3 ) + i (x3 + 3 x2 y 3 x y 2 y 3 + c)
= (1 i )z 3 + c
turns out to be a complex cubic polynomial.
Remark : On a connected domain R 2 , the harmonic conjugates (if any) to a given
function u(x, y) differ from each other by a constant: ve(x, y) = v(x, y) + c.

Although most harmonic functions have harmonic conjugates, unfortunately this is

not always the case. Interestingly, the existence or non-existence of a harmonic conjugate
can depend on the underlying topology of its domain of definition. If the domain is simply
connected, and so contains no holes, then one can always find a harmonic conjugate. On
non-simply connected domains, there may not exist a single-valued harmonic conjugate to
serve as the imaginary part of a complex function f (z).

Example 4.3. The simplest example where the latter possibility occurs is the logarithmic potential
u(x, y) = log r = 21 log(x2 + y 2 ).
This function is harmonic on the non-simply connected domain = C \ {0}, but is not
the real part of any single-valued complex function. Indeed, according to (2.17), the
logarithmic potential is the real part of the multiply-valued complex logarithm log z, and
so its harmonic conjugate is ph z = , which cannot be consistently and continuously
e , one
defined on all of . On the other hand, on any simply connected subdomain
can select a continuous, single-valued branch of the angle = ph z, which is then a bona
fide harmonic conjugate to log r restricted to this subdomain.
The harmonic function
x
u(x, y) = 2
x + y2
is also defined on the same non-simply connected domain = C \ {0} with a singularity
at x = y = 0. In this case, there is a single-valued harmonic conjugate, namely
v(x, y) =

x2

y
,
+ y2

which is defined on all of . Indeed, according to (2.11), these functions define the real
and imaginary parts of the complex function u + i v = 1/z. Alternatively, one can directly
check that they satisfy the CauchyRiemann equations (3.2).
Theorem 4.4. Every harmonic function u(x, y) defined on a simply connected domain is the real part of a complex valued function f (z) = u(x, y) + i v(x, y) which is
defined for all z = x + i y .

We can, by the preceding remark, add in any constant to the harmonic conjugate, but this
does not affect the subsequent argument.

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Proof : We first rewrite the CauchyRiemann equations (4.1) in vectorial form as an

equation for the gradient of v:


uy

v = u,
where
u=
(4.2)
ux
is known as the skew gradient of u. It is everywhere orthogonal to the gradient of u and
of the same length:
u u = 0,
k u k = k u k.
Thus, we have established the important observation that the gradient of a harmonic
function and that of its harmonic conjugate are mutually orthogonal vector fields having
the same Euclidean lengths:
u v 0,

k u k k v k.

(4.3)

Now, given the harmonic function u, our goal is to construct a solution v to the
gradient equation (4.2). A well-known result from vector calculus states the vector field
defined by u has a potential function v if and only if the corresponding line integral is
independent of path, which means that
I
I
I

0=
v dx =
u dx =
u n ds,
(4.4)
C

for every closed curve C . Indeed, if this holds, then a potential function can be
devised by integrating the vector field:
Z x
Z x
v(x, y) =
v dx =
u n ds.
(4.5)
a

Here a is any fixed point, and, in view of path independence, the line integral can be
taken over any curve that connects a to x = (x, y)T .
If the domain is simply connected then every simple closed curve C bounds a
sudomain D with C = D. Applying the divergence form of Greens Theorem,
I
ZZ
ZZ
u n ds =
u dx dy =
u dx dy = 0,
C

because u is harmonic. Thus, in this situation, we have proved the existence of a harmonic
conjugate function.
Q.E.D.

This assumes that the domain is connected; if not, we apply our reasoning to each connected
component.

Technically, we have only verified path-independence (4.4) when C is a simple closed curve,
but this suffices to establish it for arbitrary closed curves; see the proof of Proposition 7.5 for
details.

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Figure 7.

Level Curves of the Real and Imaginary Parts of z 2 and z 3 .

Remark : As a consequence of (3.3) and the CauchyRiemann equations (4.1),

f (z) =

u
u
v
v
i
=
+i
.
x
y
y
x

(4.6)

Thus, the individual components of the gradients u and v appear as the real and
imaginary parts of the complex derivative f (z).
The orthogonality (4.2) of the gradient of a function and of its harmonic conjugate
has the following important geometric consequence. Recall, [2], that the gradient u
of a function u(x, y) points in the normal direction to its level curves, that is, the sets
{ u(x, y) = c } where it assumes a fixed constant value. Since v is orthogonal to u, this
must mean that v is tangent to the level curves of u. Vice versa, v is normal to its level
curves, and so u is tangent to the level curves of its harmonic conjugate v. Since their
tangent directions u and v are orthogonal, the level curves of the real and imaginary
parts of a complex function form a mutually orthogonal system of plane curves but
with one key exception. If we are at a critical point, where u = 0, then v = u = 0,
and the vectors do not define tangent directions. Therefore, the orthogonality of the level
curves does not necessarily hold at critical points. It is worth pointing out that, in view
of (4.6), the critical points of u are the same as those of v and also the same as the critical
points of the corresponding complex function f (z), i.e., those points where its complex
derivative vanishes: f (z) = 0.
In Figure 7, we illustrate the preceding paragraph by plotting the level curves of the
real and imaginary parts of the functions f (z) = z 2 and z 3 . Note that, except at the
origin, where the derivative vanishes, the level curves intersect everywhere at right angles.
Remark : On the punctured plane = C \ {0}, the logarithmic potential is, in a
sense, the only obstruction to the existence of a harmonic conjugate. It canbe shown, [11],

that if u(x, y) is a harmonic function defined on a punctured disk R = 0 < | z | < R ,
p
for 0 < R , then there exists a constant c such that u
e(x, y) = u(x, y) c log x2 + y 2
is also harmonic and possess a single-valued harmonic conjugate ve(x, y). As a result, the
function fe = u
e + i ve is analytic on all of R , and so our original function u(x, y) is the
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real part of the multiply-valued analytic function f (z) = fe(z) + c log z. This fact will be
of importance in our subsequent analysis of airfoils.
Applications to Fluid Mechanics
Consider a planar steady state fluid flow, with velocity vector field


 
u(x, y)
x
v(x) =
at the point x =
.
v(x, y)
y
Here R 2 is the domain occupied by the fluid, while the vector v(x) represents the
instantaneous velocity of the fluid at the point x . Recall that the flow is incompressible
if and only if it has vanishing divergence:
v =

u v
+
= 0.
x y

(4.7)

Incompressibility means that the fluid volume does not change as it flows. Most liquids,
including water, are, for all practical purposes, incompressible. On the other hand, the
flow is irrotational if and only if it has vanishing curl:
v =

v
u

= 0.
x y

(4.8)

Irrotational flows have no vorticity, and hence no circulation. A flow that is both incompressible and irrotational is known as an ideal fluid flow . In many physical regimes, liquids
(and, although less often, gases) behave as ideal fluids.
Observe that the two constraints (4.78) are almost identical to the CauchyRiemann
equations (3.2); the only difference is the change in sign in front of the derivatives of v.
But this can be easily remedied by replacing v by its negative v. As a result, we establish
a profound connection between ideal planar fluid flows and complex functions.
T

Theorem 4.5. The velocity vector field v = ( u(x, y), v(x, y) )

fluid flow if and only if
f (z) = u(x, y) i v(x, y)

induces an ideal
(4.9)

is a complex analytic function of z = x + i y.

Thus, the components u(x, y) and v(x, y) of the velocity vector field for an ideal
fluid flow are necessarily harmonic conjugates. The corresponding complex function (4.9)
is, not surprisingly, known as the complex velocity of the fluid flow. When using this result,
do not forget the minus sign that appears in front of the imaginary part of f (z).
T
Under the flow induced by the velocity vector field v = ( u(x, y), v(x, y) ) , the fluid
particles follow the trajectories z(t) = x(t) + i y(t) obtained by integrating the system of
ordinary differential equations
dy
= v(x, y).
dt

dx
= u(x, y),
dt
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(4.10)
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Peter J. Olver

f (z) = 1

f (z) = 4 + 3 i

f (z) = z

Complex Fluid Flows.

Figure 8.

In view of the representation (4.9), we can rewrite the preceding system in complex form:
dz
(4.11)
= f (z) .
dt
In fluid mechanics, the curves parametrized by the solutions z(t) are known as the streamlines of the fluid flow. Each fluid particles motion z(t) is uniquely prescribed by its
position z(t0 ) = z0 = x0 + i y0 at an initial time t0 . In particular, if the complex velocity
vanishes, f (z0 ) = 0, then the solution z(t) z0 to (4.11) is constant, and hence z0 is a
stagnation point of the flow. Our steady state assumption, which is reflected in the fact
that the ordinary differential equations (4.10) are autonomous, i.e., there is no explicit
t dependence, means that, although the fluid is in motion, the stream lines and stagnation points do not change over time. This is a consequence of the standard existence and
uniqueness theorems for solutions to ordinary differential equations, [4, 5, 9].
Example 4.6. The simplest example is when the velocity is constant, corresponding
to a uniform, steady flow. Consider first the case
f (z) = 1,
T

which corresponds to the horizontal velocity vector field v = ( 1, 0 ) . The actual fluid flow
is found by integrating the system
z = 1,


x = 1,

or

y = 0.


Thus, the solution z(t) = t +z0 represents a uniform horizontal fluid motion whose streamlines are straight lines parallel to the real axis; see Figure 8.
Consider next a more general constant velocity
f (z) = c = a + i b.
The fluid particles will solve the ordinary differential equation
z = c = a i b,


so that

z(t) = c t + z0 .

The streamlines remain parallel straight lines, but now at an angle = ph c = ph c with
the horizontal. The fluid particles move along the streamlines at constant speed | c | = | c |.
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Figure 9.

Flow Inside a Corner.

The next simplest complex velocity function is

f (z) = z = x + i y.

(4.12)

The corresponding fluid flow is found by integrating the system

z = z,


or, in real form,

x = x,


y = y.


The origin x = y = 0 is a stagnation point. The trajectories of the nonstationary solutions

z(t) = x0 et + i y0 et

(4.13)

are the hyperbolas x y = c, along with the positive and negative coordinate semi-axes, as
illustrated in Figure 8.
On the other hand, if we choose

then the flow is the solution to

z = i z,


f (z) = i z = y i x,
or, in real form,

x = y,


y = x.


The solutions
z(t) = (x0 cosh t + y0 sinh t) + i (x0 sinh t + y0 cosh t),
move along the hyperbolas (and rays) x2 y 2 = c2 . Observe that this flow can be obtained
by rotating the preceding example by 45 .
In general, a solid object in a fluid flow is characterized by the no-flux condition that
the fluid velocity v is everywhere tangent to the boundary, and hence no fluid flows into
or out of the object. As a result, the boundary will necessarily consist of streamlines and
stagnation points of the idealized fluid flow. For example, the boundary of the upper right
quadrant Q = { x > 0, y > 0 } C consists of the positive x and y axes (along with the
origin). Since these are streamlines of the flow with complex velocity (4.12), its restriction
to Q represents an ideal flow past a 90 interior corner, which is illustrated in Figure 9.
The individual fluid particles move along hyperbolas as they flow past the corner.
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Remark : We could also restrict this flow to the domain = C \ { x < 0, y < 0 }
consisting of three quadrants, corresponding to a 90 exterior corner. However, this flow is
not as physically relevant since it has an unphysical asymptotic behavior at large distances.
Now, suppose that the complex velocity f (z) admits a complex anti-derivative, i.e., a
complex analytic function
(z) = (x, y) + i (x, y)

that satisfies

d
= f (z).
dz

(4.14)

Using formula (4.6) for the complex derivative,

d

=
i
= u i v,
dz
x
y

so

= u,
x

= v.
y

Thus, = v, and hence the real part (x, y) of the complex function (z) defines a
velocity potential for the fluid flow. For this reason, the anti-derivative (z) is known as a
complex potential function for the given fluid velocity field.
Since the complex potential is analytic, its real part the potential function is
harmonic, and therefore satisfies the Laplace equation = 0. Conversely, any harmonic
function can be viewed as the potential function for some fluid flow. The real fluid velocity
is its gradient v = , and is automatically incompressible and irrotational. (Why?)
The harmonic conjugate (x, y) to the velocity potential also plays an important role,
and, in fluid mechanics, is known as the stream function. It also satisfies the Laplace
equation = 0, and the potential and stream function are related by the Cauchy
Riemann equations (3.2):

=u=
,
x
y

=v=
.
y
x

(4.15)

The level sets of the velocity potential, { (x, y) = c }, where c R is fixed, are known
as equipotential curves. The velocity vector v = points in the normal direction to the
equipotentials. On the other hand, as we noted above, v = is tangent to the level
curves { (x, y) = d } of its harmonic conjugate stream function. But v is the velocity
field, and so tangent to the streamlines followed by the fluid particles. Thus, these two
systems of curves must coincide, and we infer that the level curves of the stream function
are the streamlines of the flow , whence its name! Summarizing, for an ideal fluid flow, the
equipotentials { = c } and streamlines { = d } form two mutually orthogonal families of
plane curves. The fluid velocity v = is tangent to the stream lines and normal to the
equipotentials, whereas the gradient of the stream function = is tangent to the
equipotentials and normal to the streamlines.
The discussion in the preceding paragraph implicitly relied on the fact that the velocity
is nonzero, v = 6= 0, which means we are not at a stagnation point, where the fluid
is not moving. While streamlines and equipotentials might begin or end at a stagnation
point, there is no guarantee, and, indeed, it is not generally the case that they meet at
mutually orthogonal directions there.
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Figure 10.

Equipotentials and Streamlines for (z) = z.

Example 4.7. The simplest example of a complex potential function is

(z) = z = x + i y.
Thus, the velocity potential is (x, y) = x, while its harmonic conjugate stream function
is (x, y) = y. The complex derivative of the potential is the complex velocity,
d
= 1,
dz
which corresponds to the uniform horizontal fluid motion considered first in Example 4.6.
Note that the horizontal stream lines coincide with the level sets { y = d } of the stream
function, whereas the equipotentials { x = c } are the orthogonal system of vertical lines;
see Figure 10.
Next, consider the complex potential function
f (z) =

(z) =

1
2

z2 =

1
2

(x2 y 2 ) + i x y.

The associated complex velocity

f (z) = (z) = z = x + i y
leads to the hyperbolic flow (4.13). The hyperbolic streamlines x y = d are the level curves
of the stream function (x, y) = x y. The equipotential lines 12 (x2 y 2 ) = c form a system
of orthogonal hyperbolas. Figure 11 shows (some of) the equipotentials in the first plot,
the stream lines in the second, and combines them together in the third picture.
Example 4.8. Flow Around a Disk . Consider the complex potential function




y
x
1
+ i y 2
,
(4.16)
(z) = z + = x + 2
z
x + y2
x + y2
whose real and imaginary parts are individually solutions to the two-dimensional Laplace
equation. The corresponding complex fluid velocity is
f (z) =
4/17/16

d
1
x2 y 2
2xy
= 1 2 = 1 2
+ i 2
.
2
2
dz
z
(x + y )
(x + y 2 )2
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(4.17)
Peter J. Olver

Figure 11.

Figure 12.

Equipotentials and Streamlines for (z) =

1
2

z2 .

1
Equipotentials and Streamlines for z + .
z

The equipotential curves and streamlines are plotted in Figure 12. The points z = 1
are stagnation points of the flow, while z = 0 is a singularity. In particular, fluid particles
that move along the positive x axis approach the leading stagnation point z = 1 as t .
Note that the streamlines
y
(x, y) = y 2
=d
x + y2
are asymptotically horizontal at large distances, and hence, far away from the origin, the
flow is indistinguishable from a uniform horizontal motion, from left to right, with unit
complex velocity f (z) 1.
The level curve for the particular value d = 0 consists of the unit circle | z | = 1
and the real axis y = 0. In particular, the unit circle consists of two semicircular stream
lines combined with the two stagnation points. The flow velocity vector field v = is
everywhere tangent to the unit circle, and hence satisfies the no flux condition v n = 0
along the boundary
of
the unit disk. Thus, we can interpret (4.17), when restricted to the

domain = | z | > 1 , as the complex velocity of a uniformly moving fluid around the
outside of a solid circular disk of radius 1, as illustrated in Figure 13. In three dimensions,
this would correspond to the steady flow of a fluid around a solid cylinder.
Remark : In this section, we have focused on the fluid mechanical roles of a harmonic
function and its conjugate. An analogous interpretation applies when (x, y) represents
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Figure 13.

Flow Past a Solid Disk.

an electromagnetic potential function; the level curves of its harmonic conjugate (x, y)
are the paths followed by charged particles under the electromotive force field v = .
Similarly, if (x, y) represents the equilibrium temperature distribution in a planar domain,
its level lines represent the isotherms curves of constant temperature, while the level
lines of its harmonic conjugate are the curves along which heat energy flows. Finally,
if (x, y) represents the height of a deformed membrane, then its level curves are the
contour lines of elevation. The level curves of its harmonic conjugate are the curves of
steepest descent, that is, the paths followed by, say, a stream of water flowing down the
membrane .

5. Conformal Mapping.
As we now know, complex functions provide an almost inexhaustible supply of harmonic functions, that is, solutions to the the two-dimensional Laplace equation. Thus, to
solve an associated boundary value problem, we merely find the complex function whose
real part matches the prescribed boundary conditions. Unfortunately, even for relatively
simple domains, this remains a daunting task.
The one case where we do have an explicit solution is that of a circular disk, where the
Poisson integral formula, [17; Theorem 4.6], provides a complete solution to the Dirichlet
boundary value problem. Thus, an evident solution strategy for the corresponding boundary value problem on a more complicated domain would be to transform it into a solved
case by an inspired change of variables.
Analytic Maps
The intimate connections between complex analysis and solutions to the Laplace equation inspires us to look at changes of variables defined by complex functions. To this end,

This interpretation ignores any inertial effects in the fluid flow.

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Figure 14.

Mapping to the Unit Disk.

we will re-interpret a complex analytic function

= g(z)

or

+ i = p(x, y) + i q(x, y)

(5.1)

as a mapping that takes a point z = x + i y belonging to a prescribed domain C to a

point = + i belonging to the image domain D = g() C. In many cases, the image
domain D is the unit disk, as in Figure 14, but the method can also be applied to more
general domains. In order to unambigouously relate functions on to functions on D, we
require that the analytic mapping (5.1) be one-to-one, so that each point D comes
from a unique point z . As a result, the inverse function z = g 1 () is a well-defined
map from D back to , which we assume is also analytic on all of D. The calculus formula
for the derivative of the inverse function
1
d 1
g () =
d
g (z)

at

= g(z),

(5.2)

remains valid for complex functions. It implies that the derivative of g(z) must be nonzero
everywhere in order that g 1 () be differentiable. This condition,
g (z) 6= 0

at every point

z ,

(5.3)

will play a crucial role in the development of the method. Finally, in order to match
the boundary conditions, we will assume that the mapping extends continuously to the
boundary and maps it, one-to-one, to the boundary D of the image domain.
Before trying to apply this idea to solve boundary value problems for the Laplace
equation, let us look at some of the most basic examples of analytic mappings.
Example 5.1. The simplest nontrivial analytic maps are the translations
= z + = (x + a) + i (y + b),

(5.4)

where = a + i b is a fixed complex number. The effect of (5.4) is to translate the entire
complex plane in the direction and distance prescribed by the vector (a, b)T . In particular,
(5.4) maps the disk = { | z + | < 1 } of radius 1 and center at the point to the unit
disk D = { | | < 1 }.
Example 5.2. There are two types of linear analytic maps. First are the scalings
= z = x + i y,
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(5.5)
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Peter J. Olver

Figure 15.

The mapping = ez .

where 6= 0 is a fixed nonzero real number. This maps the disk | z | < 1/| | to the unit
disk | | < 1. Second are the rotations
= e i z = (x cos y sin ) + i (x sin + y cos ),

(5.6)

which rotates the complex plane around the origin by a fixed (real) angle . These all map
the unit disk to itself.
Example 5.3. Any non-constant affine transformation
= z + ,

6= 0,

(5.7)

defines an invertible analytic map on all of C, whose inverse z = 1 ( ) is also affine.

Writing = e i in polar coordinates, we see that the affine map (5.7) can be viewed as
the composition of a rotation (5.6), followed by a scaling (5.5), followed by a translation
(5.4). As such, it takes the disk | z + | < 1 of radius 1/| | = 1/| | and center /
to the unit disk | | < 1.
Example 5.4. A more interesting example is the complex function
= g(z) =

1
,
z

or

x
,
x2 + y 2

y
,
x2 + y 2

(5.8)

which defines an inversion of the complex plane. The inversion is a one-to-one analytic
map everywhere except at the origin z = 0; indeed g(z) is its own inverse: g 1 () = 1/.
Since g (z) = 1/z 2 is never zero, the derivative condition (5.3) is satisfied everywhere.
Note that | | = 1/| z |, while ph = ph z. Thus, if = { | z | > } denotes the exterior
of the circle of radius , then the image points = 1/z satisfy | | = 1/| z |, and hence
the image domain is the punctured disk D = { 0 < | | < 1/ }. In particular, the inversion
maps the outside of the unit disk to its inside, but with the origin removed, and vice
versa. The reader may enjoy seeing what the inversion does to other domains, e.g., the
unit square S = { z = x + i y | 0 < x, y < 1 }.
Example 5.5. The complex exponential
= g(z) = ez ,
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Peter J. Olver

satisfies the condition g (z) = ez 6= 0 everywhere. Nevertheless, it is not one-to-one because

ez+2 i = ez , and so points that differ by an integer multiple of 2 i are all mapped to the
same point. We deduce that condition (5.3) is necessary, but not sufficient for invertibility.
Under the exponential map, the horizontal line Im z = b is mapped to the curve
= ex+ i b = ex (cos b + i sin b), which, as x varies from to , traces out the ray
emanating from the origin that makes an angle ph = b with the real axis. Therefore, the
exponential map will map a horizontal strip
Sa,b = { a < Im z < b }

to a wedge-shaped domain

a,b = { a < ph < b },

and is one-to-one provided | b a | < 2 . In particular, the horizontal strip



S /2,/2 = 12 < Im z < 12

of width centered around the real axis is mapped, in a one-to-one manner, to the right
half plane


R = /2,/2 = 21 < ph < 21 = { Im > 0 },


while the horizontal strip S , = < Im z < of width 2 is mapped onto the
domain
= , = { < ph < } = C \ { Im z = 0, Re z 0 }
obtained by slitting the complex plane along the negative real axis.
On the other hand, vertical lines Re z = a are mapped to circles | | = ea . Thus,
a vertical strip a < Re z < b is mapped to an annulus ea < | | < eb , albeit many-toone, since the strip is effectively wrapped around and around the annulus. The rectangle
R = { a < x < b, < y < } of height 2 is mapped in a one-to-one fashion on an
annulus that has been cut along the negative real axis, as illustrated in Figure 15. Finally,
we note that no domain is mapped to the unit disk D = { | | < 1 } (or, indeed, any other
domain that contains 0) because the exponential function is never zero: = ez 6= 0.
Example 5.6. The squaring map
= g(z) = z 2 ,

= x2 y 2 ,

(5.10)

is analytic on all of C, but is not one-to-one. Its inverse is the square root function z = ,
which, as we noted in Section 2, is doubly-valued, except at the origin z = 0. Furthermore,
its derivative g (z) = 2 z vanishes at z = 0, violating the invertibility condition (5.3).
However, once we restrict g(z) to a simply connected subdomain that does not contain

0, the function g(z) = z 2 does define a one-to-one mapping, whose inverse z = g 1 () =

is a well-defined, analytic and single-valued branch of the square root function.
The effect of the squaring map on a point z is to square its modulus, | | = | z |2 , while
doubling its phase, ph = ph z 2 = 2 ph z. Thus, for example, the upper right quadrant


Q = { x > 0, y > 0 } = 0 < ph z < 12
or

= 2 x y,

is mapped onto the upper half plane

U = g(Q) = { = Im > 0 } = { 0 < ph < }.

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Figure 16.

The Effect of = z 2 on Various Domains.

The inverse function maps a point U back to its unique square root z =
in the quadrant Q. Similarly, a quarter disk


Q = 0 < | z | < , 0 < ph z < 21

that lies

of radius is mapped to a half disk

U2 = g() = { 0 < | | < 2 , Im > 0 }

of radius 2 . On the other hand, the unit square S = { 0 < x < 1, 0 < y < 1 } is mapped
to a curvilinear triangular domain, as indicated in Figure 16; the edges of the square on
the real and imaginary axes map to the two halves of the straight base of the triangle,
while the other two edges become its curved sides.
Example 5.7. A particularly important example is the analytic map
=

x2 + y 2 1
2y
z1
=
+ i
,
2
2
z+1
(x + 1) + y
(x + 1)2 + y 2

(5.11)

where we established the formulae for its real and imaginary parts in (2.13). The map is
one-to-one with analytic inverse
z=

1+
1 2 2
2
=
+ i
,
2
2
1
(1 ) +
(1 )2 + 2

(5.12)

provided z 6= 1 and 6= 1. This particular analytic map has the important property
of mapping the right half plane R = { x = Re z > 0 } to the unit disk D = { | |2 < 1 }.
Indeed, by (5.12)
| |2 = 2 + 2 < 1

if and only if

x=

1 2 2
> 0.
(1 )2 + 2

Note that the denominator does not vanish on the interior of the disk D.
The complex functions (5.7, 8, 11) are all particular examples of linear fractional transformations
z +
,
(5.13)
=
z +
which form one of the most important classes of analytic maps. Here , , , are complex
constants, subject only to the restriction
6= 0,
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Figure 17.

Stereographic Projection.

since otherwise (5.13) reduces to a trivial constant (and non-invertible) map. (Why?) The
map is well defined except when 6= 0 and z = /, which, by convention, is said to
be mapped to the point = . On the other hand, the linear fractional transformation
maps z = to = / (or when = 0), the value following from an evident limiting
process. Thus, every linear fractional transformation defines a one-to-one, analytic map
from the Riemann sphere S C { } obtained by adjoining the point at infinity to
the complex plane. The resulting space is identified with a two-dimensional sphere via
stereographic projection : S C, [1, 20], which is one-to-one (and conformal) except at
the north pole, where it is not defined and which is thus identified with the point ; see
Figure 17. In complex analysis, one treats the point at infinity on an equal footing with
all other complex points, using the map = 1/z, say, to analyze the behavior of analytic
functions there. There is a unique linear fractional transformation mapping any three
distinct points in the Riemann sphere to any other three distinct points. In particular,
=

(b c) (z a)
(b a) (z c)

(5.14)

is the unique linear fractional transformation mapping the point a, b, c C to the respective
points 0, 1, .
Another important property of linear fractional transformations is that they always
map circles to circles, where, to be completely accurate, one must view a straight line as
a circle of infinite radius.
Each linear fractional
(5.13) can be identified with a nonsingular 2 2
 transformation


complex matrix A =
. The matrices A and B define the same linear fractional

transformation if and only if A = B for some 0 6= C. If A, B respectively represent
linear fractional transformations w = f (z), = g(w), then their product matrix C = B A
represents the composed linear fractional transformation = g f (z). Consequently the
inverse of a linear fractional transformation is the linear fractional transformation identified
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Peter J. Olver

with the inverse matrix A1 .

Example 5.8. The linear fractional transformation
z
,
with
| | < 1,
(5.15)
z 1
maps the unit disk to itself, moving the origin z = 0 to the point = . To prove this, we
note that
| z |2 = (z )( z ) = | z |2 z z + | |2 ,
| z 1 |2 = ( z 1)( z 1) = | |2 | z |2 z z + 1.
=

Subtracting these two formulae,

| z |2 | z 1 |2 = 1 | |2

| z |2 1 < 0,

whenever

| z | < 1,

| | < 1.

Thus, | z | < | z 1 |, which implies that

| | =

|z |
<1
|z 1|

provided

| z | < 1,

| | < 1,

and hence, as promised, lies within the unit disk.

The rotations (5.6) also map the unit disk to itself, while leaving the origin fixed. It
can be proved, [1, 10, 20], that the only invertible analytic mappings that take the unit
disk to itself are obtained by composing the preceding linear fractional transformation
(5.15) with a rotation.
Proposition 5.9. If = g(z) is a one-to-one analytic map that takes the unit disk
to itself, then
g(z) = e i

z
z 1

for some

| | < 1,

< .

(5.16)

Conformality
A remarkable geometrical property enjoyed by all complex analytic functions is that,
at non-critical points, they preserve angles, and therefore define conformal mappings. Conformality makes sense for any inner product space, although in practice one usually deals
with Euclidean space equipped with the standard dot product. In the two-dimensional
plane, we can assign a sign to the angle between two vectors, whereas in higher dimensions
only the absolute value of the angle can be consistently defined.
Definition 5.10. A function g: R n R n is called conformal if it preserves angles.
But what does it mean to preserve angles? In the Euclidean norm, the angle between
two vectors is defined by their dot product. However, most analytic maps are nonlinear,
and so will not map vectors to vectors since they will typically map straight lines to curves.
However, if we interpret angle to mean the angle between two curves , as illustrated in

Or, more precisely, the angle between their tangent vectors at the point of intersection; see
below for details.

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Figure 18.

A Conformal Map.

Figure 18, then we can make sense of the conformality requirement. Thus, in order to
realize complex functions as conformal maps, we first need to understand their effect on
curves.
In general, a curve C C in the complex plane is parametrized by a complex-valued
function
z(t) = x(t) + i y(t),
a t b,
(5.17)
that depends on a real parameter t. Note that there is no essential difference between a
complex curve (5.17) and a real plane curve; we have merely switched from vector notation
x(t) = (x(t), y(t))T to complex notation z(t) = x(t) + i y(t). All the usual vectorial
curve terminology closed, simple (non-self intersecting), piecewise smooth, etc. is
employed without modification. In particular, the tangent vector to the curve at the point



z(t) = x(t) + i y(t) can be identified with the complex number z(t) = x(t) + i y(t), where
we use dots to indicated derivatives with respect to the parameter t. Smoothness of the

curve is guaranteed by the requirement that z(t) 6= 0.
Example 5.11. (a) The curve
z(t) = e i t = cos t + i sin t,

for

0 t 2 ,


parametrizes the unit circle | z | = 1 in the complex plane. Its complex tangent z(t) =
i e i t = i z(t) is obtained by rotating z(t) through 90 .
(b) The complex curve
z(t) = cosh t + i sinh t =

1 + i t 1 i t
e +
e ,
2
2

< t < ,

parametrizes the right hand branch of the hyperbola Re z 2 = x2 y 2 = 1. Its complex


tangent vector is z(t) = sinh t + i cosh t = i z(t).
When we interpret the curve as the trajectory of a particle in the complex plane, so

that z(t) is the position of the particle at time t, the p
tangent z(t) represents its instan


taneous velocity. The modulus of the tangent, | z | = x2 + y 2 , indicates the particles

speed, while its phase ph z measures the direction of motion, as prescribed by the angle
that the curve makes with the horizontal; see Figure 19.
The (signed) angle between between two curves is defined as the angle between their
tangents at the point of intersection z = z1 (t1 ) = z2 (t2 ). If the curve C1 is at angle
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Peter J. Olver

ph z


Figure 19.

Complex Curve and Tangent.

1 = ph z 1 (t1 ) while the curve C2 is at angle 2 = ph z 2 (t2 ), then the angle between C1
and C2 at z is their difference
 
z


= 2 1 = ph z 2 ph z 1 = ph  2 .
(5.18)
z1


Now, consider the effect of an analytic map = g(z). A curve C parametrized by z(t)
will be mapped to a new curve = g(C) parametrized by the composition (t) = g(z(t)).
The tangent to the image curve is related to that of the original curve by the chain rule:
dg dz
d
=
,
dt
dz dt

(t) = g (z(t)) z(t).

or

(5.19)

Therefore, the effect of the analytic map on the tangent vector z is to multiply it by the
complex
number g (z). If the analytic map satisfies our key assumption g (z) 6= 0, then

6= 0, and so the image curve is guaranteed to be smooth.
According to equation (5.19),


| | = | g (z) z | = | g (z) | | z |.


(5.20)

Thus, the speed of motion along the new curve (t) is multiplied by a factor = | g (z) | > 0.
Observe that the magnification factor depends only upon the point z and not how the
curve passes through it. All curves passing through the point z are speeded up (or slowed
down if < 1) by the same factor! Similarly, the angle that the new curve makes with the
horizontal is given by




(5.21)
ph = ph g (z) z = ph g (z) + ph z.
Therefore, the tangent angle of the curve is increased by an amount = ph g (z), i.e.,
its tangent has been rotated through angle . Again, the increase in tangent angle only
depends on the point z, and all curves passing through z are rotated by the same amount
. This immediately implies that the angle between any two curves is preserved. More
precisely, if C1 is at angle 1 and C2 at angle 2 at a point of intersection, then their images
1 = g(C1 ) and 2 = g(C2 ) are at angles 1 = 1 + and 2 = 2 + . The angle between
the two image curves is the difference
2 1 = (2 + ) (1 + ) = 2 1 ,
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Figure 20.

Conformality of z 2 .

which is the same as the angle between the original curves. This establishes the conformality or angle-preservation property of analytic maps.
Theorem 5.12. If = g(z) is an analytic function and g (z) 6= 0, then g defines a
conformal map.
Remark : The converse is also valid: Every planar conformal map comes from a complex analytic function with nonvanishing derivative.
The conformality of analytic functions is all the more surprising when one revisits
elementary examples. In Example 5.6, we discovered that the function w = z 2 maps a
quarter plane to a half plane, and therefore doubles the angle between the coordinate
axes at the origin! Thus g(z) = z 2 is most definitely not conformal at z = 0. The
explanation is, of course, that z = 0 is a critical point, g (0) = 0, and Theorem 5.12 only
guarantees conformality when the derivative is nonzero. Amazingly, the map preserves
angles everywhere else! Somehow, the angle at the origin is doubled, while angles at all
nearby points are preserved. Figure 20 illustrates this remarkable and counter-intuitive
feat. The left hand figure shows the coordinate grid, while on the right are the images of
the horizontal and vertical lines under the map z 2 . Note that, except at the origin, the
image curves continue to meet at 90 angles, in accordance with conformality.
Example 5.13. A particularly interesting example is the Joukowski map


1
1
z+
.
=
2
z

(5.22)

It was first employed to study flows around airplane wings by the pioneering Russian aeroand hydro-dynamics researcher Nikolai Zhukovskii (Joukowski). Since


1
1
d
1 2 =0
=
if and only if
z = 1,
dz
2
z
the Joukowski map is conformal except at the critical points z = 1 as well as the singularity z = 0, where it is not defined.
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Figure 21.

The Joukowski Map.

If z = e i lies on the unit circle, then

=

1
2

e i + e i = cos ,

lies on the real axis, with 1 1. Thus, the Joukowski map squashes the unit circle
down to the real line segment [ 1, 1 ]. The images of points outside the unit circle fill the
rest of the plane, as do the images of the (nonzero) points inside the unit circle. Indeed,
if we solve (5.22) for
p
(5.23)
z = 2 1 ,

we see that every except 1 comes from two different points z; for not on the critical
line segment [ 1, 1 ], one point (with the minus sign) lies inside and one (with the plus
sign) lies outside the unit circle, whereas if 1 < < 1, both points lie on the unit circle
and a common vertical line.
 Therefore,
(5.22) defines a one-to-one conformal map from the
exterior of the unit circle | z | > 1 onto the exterior of the unit line segment C \ [ 1, 1 ].

Under the Joukowski map, the concentric circles | z | = r 6= 1 are mapped to ellipses
with foci at 1 in the plane; see Figure 21. The effect on circles not centered at the
origin is quite interesting. The image curves take on a wide variety of shapes; several
examples are plotted in Figure 22. If the circle passes through the singular point z = 1,
then its image is no longer smooth, but has a cusp at = 1; this happens in the last 6 of
the figures. Some of the image curves assume the shape of the cross-section through an
idealized airplane wing or airfoil. Later, we will see how to determine the physical fluid
flow around such an airfoil, a construction that was important in early aircraft design.
Composition and the Riemann Mapping Theorem
One of the hallmarks of conformal mapping is that one can assemble a large repertoire
of complicated examples by simply composing elementary mappings. This relies on the
fact that the composition of two complex analytic functions is also complex analytic.
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Peter J. Olver

Center: .1
Radius: .5

Center: .2 + i
Radius: 1.2806
Figure 22.

Center: .2 + i
Radius: .8

Center: 1 + i
Radius: 1

Center: .1 + .3 i
Radius: .9487

Center: 2
+ 3 i
Radius: 3 2 4.2426

Center: .1 + .1 i
Radius: 1.1045

Center: .2 + .1 i
Radius: 1.2042

Airfoils Obtained from Circles via the Joukowski Map.

Proposition 5.14. If w = f (z) is an analytic function of the complex variable

z = x + i y, and = g(w) is an analytic function of the complex variable w = u + i v, then
the composition = h(z) g f (z) = g(f (z)) is an analytic function of z.
The proof that the composition of two differentiable functions is differentiable is identical to the real variable version, [2, 18], and need not be reproduced here. The derivative
of the composition is explicitly given by the usual chain rule:
d
g f (z) = g (f (z)) f (z),
dz

or, in Leibnizian notation,

d dw
d
=
.
dz
dw dz

(5.24)

If both f and g are one-to-one, so is their composition h = g f . Moreover, the composition

of two conformal maps is also conformal, a fact that is immediate from the definition, or
by using the chain rule (5.24) to show that
h (z) = g (f (z)) f (z) 6= 0

provided

g (f (z)) 6= 0

and

f (z) 6= 0.

Example 5.15. As we learned in Example 5.5, the exponential function

w = ez
maps the horizontal strip S = { 12 < Im z < 12 } conformally onto the right half plane
R = { Re w > 0 }. On the other hand, Example 5.7 tells us that the linear fractional

Of course, to properly define the composition, we need to ensure that the range of the function
w = f (z) is contained in the domain of the function = g(w).

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Peter J. Olver

w=e

Figure 23.

w1
w+1

Composition of Conformal Maps.

transformation
=

w1
w+1

maps the right half plane R conformally to the unit disk D = { | | < 1 }. Therefore, the
composition
ez 1
= z
(5.25)
e +1
is a one-to-one conformal map from the horizontal strip S to the unit disk D, which we
illustrate in Figure 23.
Recall that our aim is to use analytic functions/conformal maps to solve boundary
value problems for the Laplace equation on a complicated domain by transforming them
to solved boundary value problems on the unit disk. Of course, the key question the
student should be asking at this point is: Is there, in fact, a conformal map = g(z) from
a given domain to the unit disk D = g()? The theoretical answer is the celebrated
Riemann Mapping Theorem.
Theorem 5.16. If ( C is any simply connected open subset, not equal to the
entire complex plane, then there exists a one-to-one complex analytic map = g(z),
satisfying the conformality condition g (z) 6= 0 for all z , that maps to the unit disk
D = { | | < 1 }.
Thus, any simply connected domain with one exception, the entire complex plane
can be conformally mapped the unit disk. Note that need not be bounded for
this to hold. Indeed, the conformal map (5.11) takes the unbounded right half plane
R = { Re z > 0 } to the unit disk.
The standard proof of this important theorem relies on some more advanced topics
in complex analysis, and can be found, for instance, in [1]. More recently, Levi, [14], has
provided a more elementary constructive proof, based on the Greens function of the
domain. In outline, let
u(z) = log | z z0 | + u0 (z)
(5.26)
be the Greens function for the homogeneous Dirichlet boundary value problem based at
a point z0 . Let t (z) denote the flow induced by the system of first order ordinary

See (6.26) below for the definition of the Greens function.

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differential equations
dz
= F (z),
dt

where

u ,
| u |2
F (z) =

0,

z 6= z0 ,

(5.27)

z = z0 ,

that governs the (rescaled) gradient descent associated with the Greens function u. Then
a conformal mapping from to D is given by
i
h
t
u0 (z0 )
z .
lim e t (z) z0 ,
g(z) = e
(5.28)
t

The proof that formula (5.28) produces the desired Riemann map requires showing first
that u 6= 0 at all z 6= z0 so that F (z) is analytic on \ { z0 } and continuous at z0 . This
implies that, as t , the flow t (z) asymptotically shrinks down to the base point z0 .
The second step is to prove that the limiting map (5.28) is indeed analytic and one-to-one
from to the unit disk. The key intuition is that, for large t 0, the gradient descent
flow maps the level sets of u to asymptotically small circles centered at z0 , and hence a
suitably rescaled version namely, et t (z) will, as t , map to a disk centered
at z0 of radius R = e u0 (z0 ) . The final manipulations in formula (5.28) merely map this
disk to the unit disk centered at the origin.
Moreover, it is not difficult to prove that g(z) is the unique conformal map from to
D that satisfies g(z0 ) = 0, g (z0 ) > 0, and hence, by Proposition 5.9, all other conformal
maps from to D are obtained by composing g with a linear fractional transformation of
the form (5.16). Full details can be found in the above reference [14].
Since the formula for the conformal map g guaranteed by the Riemann Mapping
Theorem 5.16 is not completely explicit, in practical applications one assembles a collection
of useful conformal maps for particular domains of interest. More complicated maps can
then be built up by composition of the basic examples. An extensive catalog can be found
in [11], while numerical schemes for constructing conformal maps are surveyed in [7].

Example
5.17.
Suppose we are asked
map the upper half plane


 to conformally

U = Im z > 0 to the unit disk D = | | < 1 . We already know that the linear
fractional transformation
w1
= g(w) =
w+1


maps the right half plane R = Re w > 0 to D = g(R). On the other hand, multiplication
by i = e i /2 , with z = h(w) = i w, rotates the complex plane by 90 and so maps the
right half plane R to the upper half plane U = h(R). Its inverse h1 (z) = i z will
therefore map U to R = h1 (U ). Therefore, to map the upper half plane to the unit disk,
we compose these two maps, leading to the conformal map
= g h1 (z) =

iz +1
iz 1
=
iz + 1
iz 1

(5.29)

from U to D.
In a similar vein, we already know
that the squaring map w = z 2 maps the upper

right quadrant Q = 0 < ph z < 21 to the upper half plane U . Composing this with
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our previously constructed map which requires replacing z by w in (5.29) beforehand

leads to the conformal map
i z2 + 1
=
(5.30)
i z2 1
that maps the quadrant Q to the unit disk D.
Example 5.18. The goal of this example is to construct an conformal map that
takes a half disk
D+ = { | z | < 1, Im z > 0 }
(5.31)
to the full unit disk D = { | | < 1 }. The answer is not = z 2 because the image
of D+ omits the positive real axis, resulting in a disk that has a slit cut out of it:
{ | | < 1, 0 < ph < 2 }. To obtain the entire disk as the image of the conformal map,
we must think a little harder. The first observation is that the map z = (w 1)/(w + 1)
that we analyzed in Example 5.7 takes the right half plane
R = { Re w > 0 } to the unit

disk. Moreover, it maps the upper right quadrant Q = 0 < ph w < 12 to the half disk
(5.31). Its inverse,
z+1
(5.32)
w=
z1
will therefore map the half disk, z D+ , to the upper right quadrant w Q.
On the other hand, we just constructed a conformal map (5.30) that takes the upper
right quadrant Q to the unit disk D. Therefore, if compose the two maps replacing z
by w in (5.30) and then using (5.32) we obtain the desired conformal map:



z+1 2
i
+1
i w2 + 1
( i + 1)(z 2 + 1) + 2( i 1)z
z1


=
.
=
=
i w2 1
( i 1)(z 2 + 1) + 2( i + 1)z
z+1 2
i
1
z1
The formula can be further simplified by multiplying numerator and denominator by i +1,
and so
z2 + 2 i z + 1
= i 2
.
z 2iz +1
The leading factor i is unimportant and can be omitted, since it merely rotates the disk
by 90 , and so
z2 + 2 i z + 1
(5.33)
= 2
z 2iz + 1
is an equally valid solution to our problem.
Finally, as noted in the preceding example, the conformal map guaranteed by the
Riemann Mapping Theorem is not unique. Since the linear fractional transformations
(5.16) map the unit disk to itself, we can compose them with any conformal Riemann
mapping to produce additional conformal maps from a simply connected domain to the
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Peter J. Olver

Figure 24.

An Annulus.

unit disk. For example, composing with (5.33) produces the two parameter family of
conformal mappings
= ei

z 2 + 2 i z + 1 (z 2 2 i z + 1)
,
(z 2 + 2 i z + 1) z 2 + 2 i z 1

(5.34)

which, for any | | < 1, < , take the half disk onto the unit disk. Proposition 5.9
implies that this is the only ambiguity, and so, in this instance, (5.34) forms a complete
list of one-to-one conformal maps from D+ to D.
Annular Domains
The Riemann Mapping Theorem does not apply to non-simply connected domains.
For purely topological reasons, a hole cannot be made to disappear under a one-to-one
continuous mapping much less a conformal map and so it is impossible to map a
non-simply connected domain in a one-to-one manner onto the unit disk. So we must look
elsewhere for a simple model domain.
The simplest non-simply connected domain is an annulus consisting of the points
between two concentric circles


Ar,R = r < | | < R ,
(5.35)

which, for simplicity, is centered around the origin; see Figure 24. The case r = 0 corresponds to a punctured disk, while setting R = gives the exterior of a disk of radius r. It
can be proved, [11], that any other domain with a single hole can be conformally mapped
to an annulus. The annular radii r, R are not uniquely specified; indeed the linear map
= z maps the annulus (5.35) to a rescaled annulus A r, R whose inner and outer radii
have both been scaled by the factor = | |. But the ratio r/R of the inner to outer radius
of the annulus is uniquely specified, and annuli with different ratios cannot be mapped to
each other by a conformal map. Here, if r = 0 or R = , but not both, then r/R = 0 by
convention. The punctured plane, where r = 0 and R = remains a separate case.
Example 5.19. Let c > 0. Consider the domain


= | z | < 1 and | z c | > c

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Peter J. Olver

Figure 25.

Conformal Map for a Non-Concentric Annulus.

contained between two nonconcentric circles. To keep the computations simple, we take
the outer circle to have radius 1 (which can always be arranged by scaling, anyway) while
the inner circle has center at the point z = c on the real axis and radius c, which means
that it passes through the origin. We must restrict c < 12 in order that the inner circle be
strictly inside the outer circle. Our goal is to find a conformal map = g(z) that takes
this non-concentric annular domain to a concentric annulus of the form


Ar,1 = r < | | < 1 .
(5.37)
Now, according to Example 5.8, a linear fractional transformation of the form
z
with
|| < 1
(5.38)
z 1
maps the unit disk to itself. Moreover, as noted above, linear fractional transformations
always map circles to circles. Therefore, we seek a particular value of that maps the
inner circle | z c | = c to a circle of the form | | = r centered at the origin. We choose
to be real and try to map the points 0 and 2 c on the inner circle to the points r and r
on the circle | | = r. This requires
= g(z) =

2c
= r.
2c 1
Substituting the first into the second leads to the quadratic equation
g(0) = = r,

g(2 c) =

(5.39)

c 2 + c = 0,

which has two real solutions:

1 + 1 4 c2
1 1 4 c2
(5.40)
and
=
.
=
2c
2c
Since 0 < c < 21 , the second solution gives > 1, and hence is inadmissible. Therefore,
the first solution yields the required conformal map

2 c z 1 + 1 4 c2

.
(5.41)
=
(1 1 4 c2 ) z 2 c
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Note in particular that the radius r = of the inner circle in Ar,1 is not the same as
the radius c of the inner circle in . For example, taking c = 52 , equation (5.40) implies
2z 1
= 12 , and hence the linear fractional transformation =
maps the annular domain
z2






= | z | < 1,  z 52  > 25 to the concentric annulus A = A1/2,1 = 12 < | | < 1 . In
Figure 25, we plot several of the non-concentric circles in that are mapped to concentric
circles in the annulus A.

6. Applications of Conformal Mapping.

Let us now apply what we have learned about analytic/conformal maps. We begin
with boundary value problems for the Laplace equation, and then present some applications
in fluid mechanics. We conclude by explaining how to use conformal maps to construct
Greens functions for the two-dimensional Poisson equation.
Applications to Harmonic Functions and Laplaces Equation
We are interested in solving a boundary value problem for the Laplace equation on a
domain R 2 . Our strategy is to map it to a corresponding boundary value problem on
the unit disk D that we know how to solve. To this end, suppose we know a conformal map
= g(z) that takes z to D. As we know, the real and imaginary parts of an analytic
function F () defined on D are harmonic. Moreover, according to Proposition 5.14, the
composition f (z) = F (g(z)) defines an analytic function whose real and imaginary parts
are harmonic functions on . Thus, the conformal mapping can be regarded as a change of
variables that preserves the property of harmonicity. In fact, this property does not even
require the harmonic function to be the real part of an analytic function, i.e., we need not
assume the existence of a harmonic conjugate.
Proposition 6.1. If U (, ) is a harmonic function of , , and
= + i = (x, y) + i (x, y) = g(z)

(6.1)

is any analytic function, then the composition

u(x, y) = U ((x, y), (x, y))

(6.2)

is a harmonic function of x, y.
Proof : This is a straightforward application of the chain rule:
U
U
u
=
+
,
x
x
x
 
2 U
2 U 2
2u
+2
=
x2
2 x
x
 2
2
2
u
2 U
U
+
2
=
y 2
2 y
y
4/17/16

u
U
U
=
+
,
y
y
y
 
2 U 2 U 2
U

+
+
+
x
2 x
x2



2
2
2
U
U
U

+
+
+
2
2
y

y
y

42

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2
,
x2
2
.
y 2

Peter J. Olver

Using the CauchyRiemann equations

=
,
x
y

=
,
y
x

for the analytic function = + i , we find, after some algebra,

2u 2u
u =
+ 2 =
x2
y



2

2  

2U
2U
+
2
2

= | g (z) |2 U,

(6.3)

the final expression following from the first formula for the complex derivative in (3.3). We
conclude that whenever U (, ) is harmonic, and so solves the Laplace equation U = 0
in the , variables, then u(x, y) solves the Laplace equation u = 0 in the x, y variables,
and is thus also harmonic.
Q.E.D.
This observation has immediate consequences for boundary value problems arising in
physical applications. Suppose we wish to solve the Dirichlet problem
u = 0

in

u=h

on

(6.4)

in a simply connected domain (C. Let = g(z) = p(x, y) + i q(x, y) be a one-to-one conformal mapping from the domain to the unit disk D, whose existence is guaranteed by
the Riemann Mapping Theorem 5.16. (Although its explicit construction may be problematic.) Then the change of variables formula (6.2) will map the harmonic function u(x, y)
on to a harmonic function U (, ) on D. Moreover, the boundary values of U = H on
the unit circle D correspond to those of u = h on by the same change of variables
formula:
h(x, y) = H(p(x, y), q(x, y))
for
(x, y) .
(6.5)
We conclude that U (, ) solves the Dirichlet problem
U = 0

in

D,

U =H

on

D.

(6.6)

But we already know how to solve the Dirichlet problem (6.6) on the unit disk by the
Poisson integral formula, [17; Theorem 4.6].
Theorem 6.2. The solution to the Laplace equation in the unit disk subject to
Dirichlet boundary conditions u(1, ) = h() is
1
u(r, ) =
2

h()

1 r2
d.
1 + r 2 2 r cos( )

(6.7)

We conclude that the solution to the original boundary

value problem is given by


the composition formula u(x, y) = U p(x, y), q(x, y) . In summary, the solution to the
Dirichlet problem on a unit disk can be used to solve the Dirichlet problem on more
complicated planar domains provided we are in possession of a suitable conformal map.
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Example 6.3. According to Example 5.7, the analytic function

+ i = =

x2 + y 2 1
2y
z1
=
+
i
z+1
(x + 1)2 + y 2
(x + 1)2 + y 2

(6.8)

maps the right half plane R = { x = Re z > 0 } to the unit disk D = { | | < 1 }. Proposition 6.1 implies that if U (, ) is a harmonic function in the unit disk, then

 2
2y
x + y2 1
,
(6.9)
u(x, y) = U
(x + 1)2 + y 2 (x + 1)2 + y 2
is a harmonic function on the right half plane. (This can, of course, be checked directly
by a rather unpleasant chain rule computation.)
To solve the Dirichlet boundary value problem
u = 0,

x > 0,

u(0, y) = h(y),

(6.10)

on the right half plane, we adopt the change of variables (6.8) and use the Poisson integral
formula to construct the solution to the transformed Dirichlet problem
U = 0,

2 + 2 < 1,

(6.11)

U (cos , sin ) = H(),

on the unit disk. The transformed boundary data are found as follows. Using the explicit
form
x+ iy = z =

1+
(1 + )(1 )
1 + | |2
1 2 2 + 2 i
=
=
=
1
| 1 |2
| 1 |2
( 1)2 + 2

for the inverse map, we see that the boundary point = + i = e i on the unit circle
D will correspond to the boundary point
iy =

2
2 i sin
=
i
cot
=
2
( 1)2 + 2
2
(cos 1)2 + sin

(6.12)

on the imaginary axis R = { Re z = 0 }. Thus, the boundary data h(y) on R corresponds

to the boundary data


H() = h cot 21

on the unit circle. The Poisson integral formula (6.7) can then be applied to solve (6.11),
from which we are able to reconstruct the solution (6.9) to the boundary value problem
(6.9) on the half plane.
Lets look at an explicit example. If the boundary data on the imaginary axis is
provided by the step function

1,
y > 0,
u(0, y) = h(y)
0,
y < 0,
then the corresponding boundary data on the unit disk is a (periodic) step function

1,
0 < < ,
H() =
0,
< < 0.
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Figure 26.

A NonCoaxial Cable.

According to [17; eq. (4.130)], the corresponding solution in the unit disk is



1 2 2
1

,
2 + 2 < 1, > 0,
1 tan

1
U (, ) =
,
2 + 2 < 1, = 0,
2




1
1 2 2
1

tan
,
2 + 2 < 1, < 0.

After some tedious algebra, we find that the corresponding solution in the right half plane
is simply
1
1
1
y
1
u(x, y) = + ph z = + tan1 ,
2
2
x
an answer that, in hindsight, we should have been able to guess.
Remark : The solution to the preceding Dirichlet boundary value problem is not, in
fact, unique, owing to the unboundedness of the domain. The solution that we pick out
by using the conformal map to the unit disk is the one that remains bounded at . The
unbounded solutions would correspond to solutions on the unit disk that have a singularity
in their boundary data at the point 1.
Example 6.4. A non-coaxial cable. The goal of this example is to determine the electrostatic potential inside a non-coaxial cylindrical cable with prescribed constant potential
values on the two bounding cylinders, as illustrated in Figure 26. Assume for definiteness
that the larger cylinder has radius 1, and is centered at the origin, while the smaller cylinder has radius 25 , and is centered at z = 52 . The resulting electrostatic potential will be
independent of the longitudinal coordinate, and so can be viewed as a planar potential in
the annular domain contained between two circles representing the cross-sections of our
cylinders. The desired potential must satisfy the Dirichlet boundary value problem


u = 0
when
| z | < 1 and  z 25  > 25 ,


u = a, when | z | = 1,
and
u = b when  z 2  = 2 .
5

According to Example 5.19, the linear fractional transformation

=
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2z 1
z2

(6.13)
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Peter J. Olver

Figure 27.

Electrostatic Potential Between Coaxial and Non-Coaxial Cylinders.



maps this non-concentric annular domain to the annulus A1/2,1 = 21 < | | < 1 , which
is the cross-section of a coaxial cable. The corresponding transformed potential U (, )
has the constant Dirichlet boundary conditions
U = a,

when

| | = 21 ,

and

U = b when

| | = 1.

(6.14)

Clearly the coaxial potential U must be a radially symmetric solution to the Laplace
equation, and hence of the form
U (, ) = log | | + ,
for constants , . A short computation shows that the particular potential function
U (, ) =

ba
ba
log | | + b =
log( 2 + 2 ) + b
log 2
2 log 2

satisfies the prescribed boundary conditions (6.14). Therefore, the desired non-coaxial
electrostatic potential




2
2
 2z 1 
ba
b

a
(2
x

1)
+
y
+b=
u(x, y) =
+b
(6.15)
log 
log
log 2
z2 
2 log 2
(x 2)2 + y 2

is obtained by composition with the conformal map (6.13). The particular case a = 0,
b = 1, is plotted in Figure 27.
Remark : The same harmonic function determines the equilibrium temperature of an
annular plate whose inner boundary is kept at a temperature u = a while the outer
boundary is kept at temperature u = b. One could also interpret this solution as the
equilibrium temperature of a three-dimensional cylindrical body contained between two
non-coaxial cylinders that are held at fixed temperatures. In this circumstance, the bodys
temperature (6.15) only depends upon the transverse coordinates x, y, and not upon the
longitudinal coordinate z.
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Figure 28.

Cross Section of Cylindrical Object.

Applications to Fluid Flow

Conformal mappings are particularly apt for the analysis of planar ideal fluid flow.
Let () = (, ) + i (, ) be an analytic function representing the complex potential
function for a steady state fluid flow in a planar domain D. Composing the complex
potential () with a one-to-one conformal map = g(z) leads to a transformed complex
potential (z) = (g(z)) = (x, y) + i (x, y) on the corresponding domain = g 1 (D).
Thus, we can employ conformal maps to construct fluid flows in complicated domains from
known flows in simpler domains.
Let us concentrate on fluid flow past a solid object. The ideal flow assumptions
of incompressibility and irrotationality are reasonably accurate if the flow is laminar ,
meaning far away from turbulent. In three dimensions, the object is assumed to have a
uniform shape in the axial direction, and so we can restrict our attention to a planar fluid
flow around a closed, bounded subset D R 2 C representing the cross-section of our
cylindrical object, as in Figure 28. The (complex) velocity and potential are defined on the
complementary domain = C \ D occupied by the fluid. The velocity potential (x, y)
will satisfy the Laplace equation = 0 in the exterior domain . For a solid object, we
should impose the homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions

=0
on the boundary
= D,
(6.16)
n
indicating that there is no fluid flux into the object. We note that, since it preserves
angles and hence the normal direction to the boundary, a conformal map will automatically
preserve the Neumann boundary conditions.
In addition, since the flow is taking place on an unbounded domain, we need to specify
the fluid motion at large distances. We shall assume our object is placed in a uniform
horizontal flow, e.g., a wind tunnel, as sketched in Figure 29. Thus, far away, the object
will not affect the flow, and so the velocity should approximate the uniform velocity field
T
v = ( 1, 0 ) , where, for simplicity, we choose our physical units so that the fluid moves
from left to right with an asymptotic speed equal to 1. Equivalently, the velocity potential
should satisfy
(x, y) x,

so

( 1, 0 )

when

x2 + y 2 0.

An alternative physical interpretation is that we are located on an object that is moving

horizontally to the left at unit speed through a fluid that is initially at rest. Think of an
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Peter J. Olver

Figure 29.

Flow Past a Solid Object.

airplane flying through the air at constant speed. If we adopt a moving coordinate system
by sitting inside the airplane, then the effect is as if the plane is sitting still while the air
is moving towards us at unit speed.
Example 6.5. Horizontal plate. The simplest example is a flat plate moving horizontally through the fluid. The plates cross-section is a horizontal line segment, and, for
simplicity, we take it to be the segment D = [ 1, 1 ] lying on the real axis. If the plate is
very thin and smooth, it will have no appreciable effect on the horizontal flow of the fluid,
and, indeed, the velocity potential is given by
(x, y) = x,

for

x + i y = C \ [ 1, 1 ].

Note that = ( 1, 0 ) , and hence this flow satisfies the Neumann boundary conditions
(6.16) on the horizontal segment D = . The corresponding complex potential is (z) =
z, with complex velocity f (z) = (z) = 1.
Example 6.6. Circular disk . Recall, from Example 5.13, that the Joukowski conformal map


1
1
z+
(6.17)
= g(z) =
2
z
squashes the unit circle | z | = 1 down to the real line segment [ 1, 1 ] in the plane.
Therefore, it will map the fluid flow outside a unit disk to the fluid flow past the line
segment, which, according to the previous example, has complex potential () = . The
resulting complex potential is


1
1
(z) = g(z) = g(z) =
z+
.
(6.18)
2
z
Except for a factor of 21 , indicating that the corresponding flow past the disk is half as
fast, this agrees with the potential we derived in Example 4.8.
Example 6.7. Tilted plate. Let us next consider the case of a tilted plate in a
uniformly horizontal fluid flow. The cross-section will be the line segment
z(t) = t e i ,
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Peter J. Olver

 = 0

= 15
Figure 30.

= 30

Fluid Flow Past a Tilted Plate.

obtained by rotating the horizontal line segment [ 1, 1 ] through an angle , as in

Figure 30. The goal is to construct a fluid flow past the tilted segment that is asymptotically horizontal at large distance. As before, the air flow will be going from left to
right, and so is called the attack angle of the plate or airfoil relative to the flow.
The key observation is that, while the effect of rotating a plate in a fluid flow is not so
evident, rotating a circularly symmetric disk has no effect on in the flow around it. Thus,
the rotation w = e i z through angle maps the disk potential (4.16) to the complex
potential
ei
.
(6.19)
(w) = (e i w) = e i w +
w
The streamlines of the induced flow are no longer asymptotically horizontal, but rather
at an angle . If we now apply the original Joukowski map (6.17) (with w replacing z)
to the rotated flow, the circle is again squashed down to the horizontal line segment, but
the stream lines continue to be at angle at large distances. Thus, if we then rotate the
resulting flow through an angle , the net effect will be to tilt the segment to the desired
angle while rotating the streamlines to be asymptotically horizontal. Putting the pieces
together, we deduce the final complex potential to be of the form


p
i
2
2
i

(z) = e
z cos i sin z e
.
(6.20)
Sample streamlines for the flow at several attack angles are plotted in Figure 30.

Example 6.8. Airfoils. As we discovered in Example 5.13, applying the Joukowski

map to off-center disks will, in favorable configurations, produce airfoil-shaped objects.
The fluid motion around such airfoils can thus be obtained from the flow past such an
off-center circle.
First, an affine map
w = z +
(6.21)
has the effect of moving the unit disk | z | 1 to the disk
|w | ||
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Peter J. Olver

 = 0

= 15
Figure 31.

= 30

Flow Past a Tilted Airfoil.

with center and radius | |. In particular, the boundary circle will continue to pass
through the point w = 1 provided | | = | 1 |. Moreover, as noted in Example 5.3, the
angular component of has the effect of a rotation, and so the streamlines around the
new disk will, asymptotically, be at an angle = ph with the horizontal. We then apply
the Joukowski transformation




1
1
1
1
=
w+
=
z + +
(6.23)
2
w
2
z +
to map the disk (6.22) to the airfoil shape. The resulting complex potential for the flow
past the airfoil is obtained by substituting the inverse map
p
+ 2 1
w
=
,
z=

into the disk potential (4.16), whereby

p


p
2 1
+ 2 1
() =
+
.

2 + 1 2

(6.24)

Finally, to make the streamlines asymptotically horizontal, we replace by e i in the

final formula (6.24), which produces an airfoil tilted by the attack angle to the horizontal
flow. Sample streamlines for the airfoil generated by the circle centered at .1 + .2 i and
passing through 1, at several attack angles, are shown in Figure 31.
Unfortunately, there is a major flaw with the airfoils that we have just designed. As
we will discover, potential flows do not produce lift, and hence an airplane with such a
wing would not fly. Fortunately, for both birds and the travel industry, physical air flow
is not of this nature! In order to understand how lift enters into the picture, we need to
study complex integration, and this will be the topic of the final section.
Poissons Equation and the Greens Function
Although designed for solving the homogeneous Laplace equation, the method of conformal mapping can also be used to solve its inhomogeneous counterpart the Poisson
equation. To solve an inhomogeneous boundary value problem it suffices to solve the
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problem when the right hand side is a delta function concentrated at a single point in the
domain:
u = (x, y) = (x ) (y ),
= + i ,
(6.25)
subject to homogeneous boundary conditions (Dirichlet or mixed) on . (As usual, we
exclude pure Neumann boundary conditions due to lack of existence/uniqueness.) The
solution
u(x, y) = G (x, y) = G(x, y; , )
(6.26)
is the Greens function for the given boundary value problem. We will sometimes abbreviate it as G(z; ), where z = x + i y, = + i . With the Greens function in hand, the
solution to the homogeneous boundary value problem under a general external forcing,
u = f (x, y),
is then provided by the Superposition Principle
ZZ
u(x, y) =
G(x, y; , ) f (, ) d d.

(6.27)

For the planar Poisson equation, the important observation is that conformal mappings preserve Greens functions. Specifically:
Theorem 6.9. Let w = g(z) be a one-to-one conformal map that maps the domain
e
to the domain D, which is also continuous on the boundary: g: D. Let G(w;
) be
the Greens function for the homogeneous Dirichlet boundary value problem for the Poisson


e g(z); g() is the corresponding Greens function on .
equation on D. Then G(z; ) = G

e
Proof : Fixing = + i , we are given that H(u, v) = G(w;
), with w = u + i v,
solves
e
H(u,
v) = (u, v) = (u , v ),

e to denote the Laplacian in the u, v variables, along with the homogeneous

where we use
Dirichlet boundary conditions on D. We now apply the change of variables u = p(x, y),
v = q(x, y), provided by the real and imaginary

parts of our conformal map. According to
(6.3), the function h(x, y) = H p(x, y), q(x, y) satisfies
  2  2 


p
q
e
h(x, y) =
+
H
p(x, y), q(x, y) .
x
x
On the other hand, at = g() with = + i , the change of variables formula for the
two-dimensional delta function, cf. [17; eq. (6.126)], implies that


(x, y)
p(x, y), q(x, y) =
| J(, ) |

where J(x, y) is the Jacobian determinant of the transformation, namely

 2  2
p q
q
p q
p
J(x, y) =
+
,

=
x y y x
x
x
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where the second expression follows from the CauchyRiemann equations (3.2) for the
analytic function g(z). Combining the preceding four formulas, we conclude that
h =

px (x, y)2 + qx (x, y)2

(x, y) = (x, y),
px (, )2 + qx (, )2

since the delta function vanishes except when (x, y) = (, ), at which point the numerator
and denominator in the fraction coincide. Thus, the Laplacian of the transformed function
has the correct delta function singularity at the point = + i . The fact that h(x, y)
also satisfies homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions on is immediate.
Q.E.D.
Remark : Theorem 6.9 also applies to the mixed boundary value problem, provided
the conformal map is C1 on the Neumann part of the boundary.
The logarithmic potential function


1
1
1
log w =
log | w | =
log (u2 + v 2 ),
U (u, v) = Re
2
2
4

(6.28)

solves the Dirichlet problem

e = (u, v),
U

(u, v) D,

U =0

on

D,

on the unit disk D for a delta impulse concentrated at the origin. According to Example 5.8,
the linear fractional transformation
w = g(z) =

z1

where

| | < 1,

(6.29)

maps the unit disk to itself, moving the point z = to the origin w = g() = 0. The proof
of Theorem 6.9 then implies that the transformed function u(x, y) will satisfy
u = (x, y),

(x, y) D,

u=0

on

D,

and hence defines the Greens function at the point = + i . We conclude that


z1
1

G(z; ) =
log 
(6.30)
2
z 

is the Greens function for the Dirichlet boundary value problem on the unit disk.
Now that we know the Greens function on the unit disk, we can use the Riemann
Mapping Theorem 5.16 and Theorem 6.9 to produce the Greens function for any other
simply connected domain ( C.

Corollary 6.10. Let w = g(z) denote a conformal map that takes the simply connected domain z to the unit disk w D. Then the Greens function for the homogeneous Dirichlet boundary problem for the Poisson equation on is explicitly given
by


 g() g(z) 1 
1


(6.31)
log 
G(z; ) =
.
 g(z) g() 
2
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Example 6.11. According to Example 5.7, the analytic function

z1
z+1
maps the right half plane x = Re z > 0 to the unit disk | | < 1. Therefore, by (6.31), the
Greens function for the right half plane has the form


 1 z1




1 

 ( + 1) (z + ) 
 +1 z+1

1
1


=
(6.32)
log 
log 
G(z; ) =
.

 ( + 1) (z ) 
2
 z 1 1  2


 z+1 +1 
w=

One can then write an integral formula for the solution to the Poisson equation on the
right half plane in the form of a superposition as in (6.27).

7. Complex Integration.
The magic and power of calculus ultimately rests on the amazing fact that differentiation and integration are mutually inverse operations. And, just as complex functions
enjoy remarkable differentiability properties not shared by their real counterparts, so the
sublime beauty of complex integration goes far beyond its more mundane real progenitor.
Lets begin by motivating the definition of the complex integral. As you know, the
Z b
(definite) integral of a real function,
f (t) dt, is evaluated on an interval [ a, b ] R. In
a

complex function theory, integrals are taken along curves in the complex plane, and are
akin to the line integrals appearing in real vector calculus. Indeed, the identification of a
T
complex number z = x + i y with a planar vector x = ( x, y ) will serve to connect the
two theories.
Consider a curve C in the complex plane, parametrized by z(t) = x(t) + i y(t) for
a t b. We define the integral of the complex function f (z) along C to be the complex
number
Z
Z b
dz
f (z(t))
f (z) dz =
dt,
(7.1)
dt
a
C
the right hand side being an ordinary real integral of a complex-valued function. We shall
always assume that the integrand f (z) is a well-defined complex function at each point on
the curve, and hence the integral is well-defined. Let us write out the integrand
f (z) = u(x, y) + i v(x, y)
in terms of its real and imaginary parts, as well as the differential


dz
dy
dx
dt = dx + i dy.
dz =
dt =
+i
dt
dt
dt

As a result, the complex integral (7.1) splits up into a pair of real line integrals:
Z
Z
Z
Z
f (z) dz =
(u + i v)(dx + i dy) =
(u dx v dy) + i
(v dx + u dy).
C

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S+

C
1

1
P

Curves for Complex Integrals in Example 7.1.

Figure 32.

Example 7.1. Suppose n is an integer. Let us compute complex integrals

Z
z n dz

(7.3)

of the monomial function f (z) = z n along several different curves. We begin with a straight
line segment I along the real axis connecting the points 1 and 1, which we parametrize
by z(t) = t for 1 t 1. The defining formula (7.1) implies that the complex integral
(7.3) reduces to an elementary real integral:

Z
Z 1
0 < n = 2 k + 1 odd,
0,
n
n
2
z dz =
t dt =

, 0 n = 2 k even.
I
1
n+1

If n 1 is negative, then the singularity of the integrand at the origin implies that the
integral diverges, and so the complex integral is not defined.
Let us evaluate the same complex integral, but now along a parabolic arc P parametrized by
z(t) = t + i (t2 1),
1 t 1.
Note that, as we see in Figure 32, the parabola connects the same two points in C. We
again refer back to the basic definition (7.1) to evaluate the integral, so
Z

z dz =

t + i (t2 1)

n

(1 + 2 i t) dt.

We could, at this point, expand the resulting complex polynomial integrand, and then
integrate term by term. A more elegant approach is to recognize that it is an exact
derivative:

n+1

n
d t + i (t2 1)
= t + i (t2 1) (1 + 2 i t),
dt
n+1
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as long as n 6= 1. Therefore, we can use the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus (which

works equally well for real integrals of complex-valued functions), to evaluate


n+1 1
Z
1 6= n = 2 k + 1 odd,
0,
2
t + i (t 1)

n
2
z dz =
=



,
n = 2 k even.
n+1
P
t = 1
n+1
Thus, when n 0 is a positive integer, we obtain the same result as before. Interestingly,
in this case the complex integral is well-defined even when n is a negative integer because,
unlike the real line segment, the parabolic path does not go through the singularity of z n
at z = 0. The case n = 1 needs to be done slightly differently, and integration of 1/z
along the parabolic path is left as an exercise for the reader one that requires some
care. We recommend trying the exercise now, and then verifying your answer once we
have become a little more familiar with basic complex integration techniques.
Finally, let us try integrating around a semi-circular arc, again with the same endpoints
1 and 1. If we parametrize the semi-circle S + by z(t) = e i t , 0 t , we find
Z
Z
Z
Z
n
n dz
i nt
it
z
z dz =
dt =
e
i e dt =
i e i (n+1)t dt
dt
+
0
S
0
0

1 6= n = 2 k + 1 odd,

0,
1 e i (n+1)
e i (n+1)t 
=
=
=
2

n + 1 t = 0
n+1
,
n = 2 k even.
n+1
This value is the negative of the previous cases but this can be explained by the fact
that the circular arc is oriented to go from 1 to 1 whereas the line segment and parabola
both go from 1 to 1. Just as with line integrals, the direction of the curve determines the
sign of the complex integral; if we reverse direction, replacing t by t, we end up with the
same value as the preceding two complex integrals. Moreover again provided n 6= 1
it does not matter whether we use the upper semicircle or lower semicircle to go from
1 to 1 the result is exactly the same. However, the case n = 1 is an exception to
this rule. Integrating along the upper semicircle S + from 1 to 1 yields
Z
Z
dz
i dt = i ,
(7.4)
=
S+ z
0
whereas integrating along the lower semicircle S from 1 to 1 yields the negative
Z
Z
dz
i dt = i .
(7.5)
=
0
S z
Hence, when integrating the function 1/z, it makes a difference which direction we go
around the origin.
Integrating z n for any integer n 6= 1 around an entire circle gives zero irrespective
of the radius. This can be seen as follows. We parametrize a circle of radius r by z(t) = re i t
for 0 t 2 . Then, by the same computation,
2
I
Z 2
Z 2
r n+1 i (n+1)t 
n
n i nt
it
n+1 i (n+1)t
= 0,
e
z dz =
(r e )(r i e ) dt =
ir
e
dt =

n+1
C
0
0
t=0
(7.6)

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provided n 6= 1. The circle on the integral sign serves to remind us that we are integrating
around a closed curve. The case n = 1 remains special. Integrating once around the
circle in the counter-clockwise direction yields a nonzero result
I
Z 2
dz
=
i dt = 2 i .
(7.7)
C z
0
Let us note that a complex integral does not depend on the particular parametrization
of the curve C. It does, however, depend upon its orientation: if we traverse the curve in
the reverse direction, then the complex integral changes its sign:
Z
Z
f (z) dz =
f (z) dz.
(7.8)
C

Moreover, if we chop up the curve into two non-overlapping pieces, C = C1 C2 , with a

common orientation, then the complex integral can be decomposed into a sum over the
pieces:
Z
Z
Z
f (z) =
f (z) dz +
f (z) dz.
(7.9)
C1 C2

C1

C2

For instance, the integral (7.7) of 1/z around the circle is the difference of the individual
semicircular integrals (7.4, 5); the lower semicircular integral acquires a negative sign to
flip its orientation so as to agree with that of the entire circle. All these facts are immediate
consequences of the well-known properties of line integrals, or can be proved directly from
the defining formula (7.1).
Note: In complex integration theory, a simple closed curve is often referred to as
a contour , and so complex integration is sometimes referred to as contour integration.
Unless explicitly stated otherwise, we always go around contours in the counter-clockwise
direction.
Further experiments lead us to suspect that complex integrals are usually pathindependent, and hence evaluate to zero around closed curves. One must be careful,
though, as the integral (7.7) makes clear. Path independence, in fact, follows from the
complex version of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.
Theorem 7.2. Let f (z) = F (z) be the derivative of a single-valued complex function
F (z) defined on a domain C. Let C be any curve with initial point and final
point . Then
Z
Z
f (z) dz =

F (z) dz = F () F ().

(7.10)

Proof : This follows immediately from the definition (7.1) and the chain rule:
Z

F (z) dz =
C

dz
dt =
F (z(t))
dt

b
a

d
F (z(t)) dt = F (z(b)) F (z(a)) = F () F (),
dt

where = z(a) and = z(b) are the endpoints of the curve.

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For example, when n =

6 1, the function f (z) = z n is the derivative of the single1
z n+1 . Hence
valued function F (z) =
n+1
Z
n+1
n+1
z n dz =

n+1
n+1
C
whenever C is (almost) any curve connecting to . The only restriction is that, when
n < 0, the curve is not allowed to pass through the singularity at the origin z = 0.
In contrast, the function f (z) = 1/z is the derivative of the complex logarithm
log z = log | z | + i ph z,
which is not single-valued on all of C \ {0}, and so Theorem 7.2 cannot be applied directly.
However, if our curve is contained within a simply connected subdomain that does not
include the origin, 0 6 C, then we can use any single-valued branch of the complex
logarithm to evaluate the integral
Z
dz
= log log ,
C z
where , are the endpoints of the curve. Since the common multiples of 2 i cancel, the
answer does not depend upon which particular branch of the complex logarithm is selected
as long as we are consistent in our choice. For example, on the upper semicircle S + of
radius 1 going from 1 to 1,
Z
dz
= log(1) log 1 = i ,
S+ z
where we use the branch of log z = log | z | + i ph z with 0 ph z . On the other hand,
if we integrate on the lower semi-circle S going from 1 to 1, we need to adopt a different
branch, say that with ph z 0. With this choice, the integral becomes
Z
dz
= log(1) log 1 = i ,
S z
thus reproducing (7.4, 5). Pay particular attention to the different values of log(1) used
in the two cases!
Cauchys Theorem
The preceding considerations suggest the following fundamental theorem, due in its
general form to Cauchy. Before stating it, we introduce the convention that a complex
function f (z) is to be deemed analytic on a domain C provided it is analytic at every
point inside and, in addition, remains (at least) continuous on the boundary . When
is bounded, its boundary consists of one or more simple closed curves. In general,
we orient so that the domain is always on our left hand side. This means that the
outermost boundary curve is traversed in the counter-clockwise direction, but those around
interior holes take on a clockwise orientation. Our convention is depicted in Figure 33.
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Orientation of Domain Boundary.

Figure 33.

Theorem 7.3. If f (z) is analytic on a bounded domain C, then

I
f (z) dz = 0.

(7.11)

Proof : Application of Greens Theorem to the two real line integrals in (7.2) yields


I
ZZ 
I
ZZ 
u v
u
v
= 0,
v dx + u dy =
= 0,

u dx v dy =

x y
x y

both of which vanish by virtue of the CauchyRiemann equations (3.2).

Q.E.D.

If the domain of definition of our complex function f (z) is simply connected, then, by
definition, the interior of any closed curve C is contained in , and hence Cauchys
Theorem 7.3 implies path independence of the complex integral within .
Corollary 7.4.
If f (z) is analytic on a simply connected domain C, then its
Z
complex integral
f (z) dz for C is independent of path. In particular,
C

f (z) dz = 0

(7.12)

for any closed curve C .

Remark : Simple connectivity of the domain is an essential hypothesis our evaluation (7.7) of the integral of 1/z around the unit circle provides a simple counterexample
to (7.12) for the non-simply connected domain = C \ {0}. Interestingly, this result also
admits a converse: a continuous complex-valued function that satisfies (7.12) for all closed
curves is necessarily analytic; see [1] for a proof.
We will also require a slight generalization of this result.
Proposition 7.5. If f (z) is analytic in a domain that contains two simple closed
curves S and C, and the entire region lying between them, then, assuming they are oriented
in the same direction,
I
I
f (z) dz =
f (z) dz.
(7.13)
C

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Integration Around Two Closed Curves.

Figure 34.

Proof : If C and S do not cross each other, we let denote the domain contained
between them, Iso that = C S; see the first plot in Figure 34. According to Cauchys

Theorem 7.3,

f (z) = 0. Now, our orientation convention for means that the

outer curve, say C, is traversed in the counter-clockwise direction, while the inner curve S
assumes the opposite, clockwise orientation. Therefore, if we assign both curves the same
counter-clockwise orientation,
I
I
I
0=
f (z) =
f (z) dz
f (z) dz,

proving (7.13).
If the two curves cross, we can construct a nearby curve K that neither crosses,
as in the second sketch in Figure 34. By the preceding paragraph, each integral is equal
to that over the third curve,
I
I
I
f (z) dz =
f (z) dz =
f (z) dz,
C

and formula (7.13) remains valid.

Q.E.D.

Example 7.6. Consider the function f (z) = z n where n is an integer . In (7.6), we

already computed

I
0,
n 6= 1,
n
z dz =
(7.14)
2 i ,
n = 1,
C
when C is a circle centered at z = 0. When n 0, Theorem 7.2 immediately implies that
the integral of z n is 0 over any closed curve in the plane. The same applies in the cases

When n is fractional or irrational, the integrals are not well-defined owing to the multi-valued
branch point at the origin.

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k=0

k=3
Figure 35.

k = 5

Winding Numbers.

n 2 provided the curve does not pass through the singular point z = 0. In particular,
the integral is zero around closed curves encircling the origin, even though z n for n 2
has a singularity inside the curve and so Cauchys Theorem 7.3 does not apply as stated.
The case n = 1 has particular significance. Here, Proposition 7.5 implies that the
integral is the same as the integral around a circle provided the curve C also goes
once around the origin in a counter-clockwise direction. Thus (7.7) holds for any closed
curve that goes counter-clockwise once around the origin. More generally, if the curve goes
several times around the origin , then
I
dz
= 2k i
(7.15)
C z
is an integer multiple of 2 i . The integer k is called the winding number of the curve
C, and measures the total number of times C goes around the origin. For instance, if
C winds three times around 0 in a counter-clockwise fashion, then k = 3, while k = 5
indicates that the curve winds 5 times around 0 in a clockwise direction, as in Figure 35.
In particular, a winding number k = 0 indicates that C is not wrapped around the origin.
If C represents a loop of string wrapped around a pole (the pole of 1/z at 0) then a winding
number k = 0 would indicate that the string can be disentangled from the pole without
cutting; nonzero winding numbers would indicate that the string is truly entangled .
Lemma 7.7. If C is a simple closed curve, and a is any point not lying on C, then

I
2 i ,
a inside C
dz
=
(7.16)
0,
a outside C.
C za
If a C, then the integral does not converge.

Such a curve is undoubtedly not simple and must necessarily cross over itself.

Actually, there are more subtle three-dimensional considerations that come into play, and
even strings with zero winding number cannot be removed from the pole without cutting if they
are knotted in some nontrivial manner. Can you think of an example?

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Proof : Note that the integrand f (z) = 1/(z a) is analytic everywhere except at
z = a, where it has a simple pole. If a is outside C, then Cauchys Theorem 7.3 applies, and
the integral is zero. On the other hand, if a is inside C, then Proposition 7.5 implies that
the integral is equal to the integral around a circle centered at z = a. The latter integral
can be computed directly by using the parametrization z(t) = a + r e i t for 0 t 2 , as
in (7.7).
Q.E.D.
Example 7.8. Let D C be a closed and connected domain. Let a, b D be two
points in D. Then

I
I
I 
dz
dz
1
1
dz =

=0
za zb
C za
C zb
C

for any closed curve C = C \ D lying outside the domain D. This is because,
by connectivity of D, either C contains both points in its interior, in which case both
integrals equal 2 i , or C contains neither point, in which case both integrals are 0. The
conclusion is that, while the individual logarithms are multiply-valued, their difference
za
(7.17)
zb
is a consistent, single-valued complex function on all of = C \ D. The function (7.17)
has, in fact, an infinite number of possible values, differing by integer multiples of 2 i ;
the ambiguity can be resolved by choosing one of its values at a single point in . These
conclusions rest on the fact that D is connected, and are not valid, say, for the twicepunctured plane C \ { a, b }.
F (z) = log(z a) log(z b) = log

We are sometimes interested in estimating the size of a complex integral. The basic
inequality bounds it in terms of an arc length integral.
Proposition 7.9. The modulus of the integral of the complex function f along a
curve C is bounded by the integral of its modulus with respect to arc length:

Z
Z




| f (z) | ds.
(7.18)
f (z) dz 

C

Proof : We begin with a simple lemma on real integrals of complex functions.

Lemma 7.10. Let f (t) be a complex-valued function depending on the real variable
a t b. Then

Z
Z b

 b


| f (t) | dt.
(7.19)
f (t) dt 


 a
a
Z b
Z b
Proof : If
f (t) dt = 0, the inequality is trivial. Otherwise, let = ph
f (t) dt.
a

Then,

Z

# Z
"
Z b
Z b
 b

b
 i



i
f (t) dt =
Re e
f (t) dt
| f (t) | dt,
f (t) dt  = Re e

 a

a
a
a

which proves the lemma.

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Peter J. Olver

To prove the proposition, we write out the complex integral, and use (7.19) as follows:



  Z b
Z
Z b
Z

 dz 
 

dz





| f (z(t)) | 
dt 
dt =
| f (z) | ds,
f (z(t))
f (z) dz  = 

 a
dt 
dt 
a
C
C


since | dz | = | z | dt =

p

x2 + y 2 dt = ds is the arc length integral element.

Q.E.D.

Corollary 7.11. If the curve C has length L = L(C), and f (z) is an analytic
function such that | f (z) | M for all points z C, then

Z


 M L.

(7.20)
f
(z)
dz


C

Finally, we note that complex integrals are unaffected by conformal maps.

Theorem 7.12. Let = g(z) be a conformal map. Suppose g maps the curve
C = { z(t) } to the image curve = g(C) = { (t) = g(z(t)) }. Let F () be related to
f (z) = F (g(z)). Then
Z
Z
f (z) dz =

F () d.

(7.21)

The proof, which is an easy consequence of the change of variables formula for integrals, is left as an exercise for the reader.
Circulation and Lift
In fluid mechanical applications, the complex integral can be assigned an important
physical interpretation. As above, we consider the steady state flow of an incompressible,
irrotational fluid. Let f (z) = u(x, y) i v(x, y) denote the complex velocity corresponding
T
to the real velocity vector v = ( u(x, y), v(x, y) ) at the point (x, y)T .
As we noted in (7.2), the integral of the complex velocity f (z) along a curve C can
be written as a pair of real line integrals:
Z
Z
Z
Z
f (z) dz =
(u i v)(dx + i dy) =
(u dx + v dy) i
(v dx u dy).
(7.22)
C

The real part is the circulation integral

Z
Z
v dx =
u dx + v dy,
C

(7.23)

while the imaginary part is minus the flux integral

Z
Z
Z
v n ds =
v dx =
v dx u dy.
C

(7.24)

If the complex velocity admits a single-valued complex potential

(z) = (z) i (z),
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which is always the case if its domain of definition is simply connected, then the complex
integral is independent of path, and one can use the Fundamental Theorem 7.2 to evaluate
it:
Z
C

f (z) dz = () ()

(7.25)

for any curve C connecting to . Path independence of the complex integral reconfirms
the path independence of the circulation and flux integrals for ideal fluid flow. The real
part of formula (7.25) evaluates the circulation integral
Z
Z
v dx =
dx = () (),
(7.26)
C

as the difference in the values of the (real) potential at the endpoints , of the curve C.
On the other hand, the imaginary part of formula (7.25) computes the flux integral
Z
Z
v dx =
dx = () (),
(7.27)
C

as the difference in the values of the stream function at the endpoints of the curve. The
stream function acts as a flux potential for the flow. Thus, for ideal flows, the fluid flux
through a curve depends only upon its endpoints. In particular, if C is a closed contour,
and (z) is analytic on its interior, then
I
I
v dx = 0 =
v dx,
(7.28)
C

and so there is no net circulation or flux along any closed curve in this scenario.
Typically, lift on a body requires a nonzero circulation around it. (The precise relation
is spelled out by Blasius Theorem.) Let D C be a bounded, simply connected domain
representing the cross-section of a cylindrical body, e.g., an airplane wing. The velocity
vector field v of a steady state flow around the exterior of the body is defined on the domain
= C \ D. The no flux boundary conditions v n = 0 on = D indicate that there
is no fluid flowing across the boundary of the Isolid body. The resulting circulation of the
fluid around the body is given by the integral
v dx, where C is any simple closed
C

contour encircling the body. (Cauchys theorem, in the form of Proposition 7.5, tells us
that the value does not depend upon the choice of contour.) However, if the corresponding
complex velocity f (z) admits a single-valued complex potential in , then (7.28) tells us
that the circulation integral is automatically zero, and so the body will not experience any
lift!
Consider first the flow around a disk, as discussed in Examples 4.8 and 6.6. The
disk potential (4.16) is a single-valued analytic function everywhere except at the origin
z = 0. Therefore, the circulation integral (7.26) around any contour encircling the disk
will vanish, and hence the disk experiences no net lift. This is more or less evident from
Figure 12; the streamlines of the flow are symmetric above and below the disk, and hence
there cannot be any net force in the vertical direction.
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 = .25

= .5
Figure 36.

= .75

Flow with Lift Around a Circle.

Any conformal map will maintain single-valuedness of the complex potentials, and
hence preserve the zero-circulation property. In particular, all the flows past airfoils constructed in Example 6.8 also admit single-valued potentials, and so also have zero circulation integral. Such an airplane will not fly, because its wings have no lift. Of course, physical airplanes do fly, and so there must be some physical assumption we are neglecting in
our treatment of flow past a body. Abandoning incompressibility or irrotationality would
banish us from the paradise of complex variable theory to the vastly more complicated
world inhabited by the fully nonlinear partial differential equations of fluid mechanics.
Moreover, although air is slightly compressible, water is, for all practical purposes, incompressible, and, as we know, hydrofoils do experience lift when traveling through water.
The only way to introduce lift into the picture is through a (single-valued) complex
velocity with a non-zero circulation integral, and this requires that its complex potential be
multiply-valued. The one function that we know that has such a property is the complex
logarithm
a
(z) = log(a z + b),
whose derivative
(z) =
az +b
is single-valued away from the singularity at z = b/a. Thus, we are naturally led to
introduce the family of complex potentials
(z) = z +

1
+ i log z.
z

(7.29)

The corresponding complex velocity

f (z) =

d
1
i
=1 2 +
dz
z
z

(7.30)

remains asymptotically 1 at large distances. On the unit circle z = e i ,

f (e i ) =

1
2

12 e 2 i i e i = (sin + ) i e i

is a real multiple of the complex tangent vector i e i = sin i cos , and hence its normal
velocity or flux vanishes, if and only if is real. Applying Cauchys Theorem 7.3 coupled
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15
Figure 37.

30

Kutta Flow Past a Tilted Airfoil.

with formula (7.16), if C is a curve going once around the disk in a counter-clockwise
direction, then

I
I 
1
i
f (z) dz =
1 2 +
dz = 2 .
(7.31)
z
z
C
C
Therefore, when 6= 0, the circulation integral is non-zero, and the cylinder experiences
a net lift. In Figure 36, the streamlines for the flow corresponding to a few representative
values of are plotted. The asymmetry of the streamlines accounts for the lift experienced
by the disk. In particular, assuming | | 2, the stagnation points have moved from 1
to
q
z = 1 41 2 12 i .
(7.32)

When we compose the modified potentials (7.29) with the Joukowski transformation
(6.23), we obtain a complex potential for flow around the corresponding airfoil the
image of the unit disk. The conformal mapping does not affect the value of the complex
integrals, and hence, for any 6= 0, there is a nonzero circulation around the airfoil under
the modified fluid flow, and at last our airplane will fly!
However, we now have a slight embarrassment of riches, having designed flows around
the airfoil with an arbitrary value 2 for the circulation integral, and hence an arbitrary
amount of lift! Which of these possible flows most closely realizes the true physical version?
In his 1902 thesis, the German mathematician Martin Kutta hypothesized that Nature
chooses the constant so as to keep the velocity of the flow at the trailing edge of the
airfoil finite, which requires that the trailing edge, = 1, be a stagnation point. Under
the Joukowski map (6.23), the trailing edge corresponds to w = 1, and hence, under the
affine map (6.21), the corresponding point on the unit circle is
z=

1
= e i () ,

where

= ph ,

= ph(1 ),

(7.33)

since, as in Example 6.8, we require | | = | 1 | in order that the image of the unit
circle go through w = 1. Equating (7.33) to (7.32), we deduce Kuttas formula
= 2 sin( )

(7.34)

that produces the corresponding circulation via (7.31). Sample flows for the airfoil of
Figure 31 are depicted in Figure 37. As long as the attack angle is of moderate size, the
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resulting flow and lift is in fairly good agreement with experiments. Further developments
and refinements can be found in several references, including [3, 10, 12, 13].
All of the preceding examples can be interpreted as planar cross-sections of threedimensional fluid flows past an airplane wing oriented in the longitudinal z direction. The
wing is assumed to have a uniform cross-section shape, and the flow not dependent upon
the axial z coordinate. For sufficiently long wings flying in laminar (non-turbulent) flows,
this model will be valid away from the wing tips. Understanding the dynamics of more
complicated airfoils with varying cross-section and/or faster motion requires a fully threedimensional fluid model. For such problems, complex analysis is no longer applicable, and,
for the most part, one must rely on large scale numerical integration. Only in recent years
have computers become sufficiently powerful to compute realistic three-dimensional fluid
motions and then only in reasonably mild scenarios . The two-dimensional versions
that have been analyzed here still provide important clues to the behavior of a threedimensional flow, as well as useful initial approximations to the three-dimensional airplane
wing design problem.
Cauchys Integral Formula
Cauchys Theorem 7.3 forms the cornerstone of almost all applications of complex
integration. The fact that we can move the contours of complex integrals around freely
as long as we do not cross over singularities of the integrand grants us great flexibility
in their evaluation. An important consequence of Cauchys Theorem is the justly famous
Cauchy integral formula, which enables us to compute the value of an analytic function at
a point by evaluating a contour integral around a closed curve encircling the point.
Theorem 7.13. Let C be a bounded domain with boundary , and let a .
If f (z) is analytic on , then
I
f (z)
1
f (a) =
dz.
(7.35)
2 i z a
Remark : As always, we traverse the boundary curve so that the domain lies on
our left. In most applications, is simply connected, and so is a simple closed curve
oriented in the counter-clockwise direction.
It is worth emphasizing that Cauchys formula (7.35) is not a form of the Fundamental
Theorem of Calculus, since we are reconstructing the function by integration not its antiderivative! The closest real counterpart is the Poisson Integral Formula (6.7) expressing
the value of a harmonic function in a disk in terms of its values on the boundary circle.
Indeed, there is a direct connection between the two results resulting from the intimate
bond between complex and harmonic functions.

The definition of mild relies on the magnitude of the Reynolds number, [ 3 ], an overall
measure of the flows complexity.

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Proof : We first prove that the difference quotient

f (z) f (a)
za
is an analytic function on all of . The only problematic point is at z = a where the
denominator vanishes. First, by the definition of complex derivative,
g(z) =

f (z) f (a)
= f (a)
za
za
exists and therefore g(z) is well-defined and, in fact, continuous at z = a. Secondly, we
can compute its derivative at z = a directly from the definition:
g(a) = lim

g (a) = lim

za

f (z) f (a) f (a) (z a)

g(z) g(a)
= lim
=
za
za
(z a)2

1
2

f (a),

which follows from Taylors Theorem (or lHopitals rule). Knowing that g is differentiable
at z = a suffices to establish that it is analytic on all of . Thus, we may appeal to
Cauchys Theorem 7.3, and conclude that
I
I
I
I
f (z)
dz
f (z) f (a)
dz =
dz f (a)
0=
g(z) dz =
za
z a
z a

I
f (z)
dz 2 i f (a),
=
z a

where the second integral was evaluated using (7.16). Rearranging terms completes the
proof of the Cauchy formula.
Q.E.D.
Remark : The proof shows that if, in contrast, a 6 , then the Cauchy integral vanishes:
I
f (z)
1
dz = 0.
2 i z a

If a , then the integral does not converge.

Let us see how we can apply this result to evaluate seemingly intractable complex
integrals.
Example 7.14. Suppose that you are asked to compute the contour integral
I
ez dz
2
C z 2z 3

where C is a circle of radius 2 centered at the origin. A direct evaluation is not easy, since
the integrand does not have an elementary anti-derivative . However, we note that
ez
f (z)
ez
=
=
2
z 2z 3
(z + 1)(z 3)
z+1

where

f (z) =

ez
z3

At least not one listed in any integration tables, e.g., [ 8 ]. A deeper result, [ 6 ], confirms that
its anti-derivative cannot be expressed in closed form using elementary functions.

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is analytic in the disk | z | 2 since its only singularity, at z = 3, lies outside the contour
C. Therefore, by Cauchys formula (7.35), we immediately obtain the integral
I
I
f (z)
ez dz
i
=
dz = 2 i f (1) =
.
2
2e
C z+1
C z 2z 3
Note: Path independence implies that the integral has the same value on any other
simple closed contour, provided it is oriented in the usual counter-clockwise direction and
encircles the point z = 1 but not the point z = 3.
Derivatives by Integration
The fact that we can recover values of complex functions by integration is noteworthy.
Even more amazing is the fact that we can compute derivatives of complex functions by
integration turning the Fundamental Theorem on its head! Let us differentiate both
sides of Cauchys formula (7.35) with respect to a. The integrand in the Cauchy formula is
sufficiently nice so as to allow us to bring the derivative inside the integral sign. Moreover,
the derivative of the Cauchy integrand with respect to a is easily found:



f (z)
f (z)
=
.
a z a
(z a)2
In this manner, we deduce an integral formulae for the derivative of an analytic function:
I
f (z)
1

dz,
(7.36)
f (a) =
2 i C (z a)2
where, as before, C is any simple closed curve that goes once around the point z = a in a
counter-clockwise direction . Further differentiation yields the general integral formulae
I
f (z)
n!
(n)
f (a) =
dz
(7.37)
2 i C (z a)n+1
that expresses the nth order derivative of a complex function in terms of a contour integral.
These remarkable formulae can be used to prove our earlier claim that an analytic
function is infinitely differentiable, and thereby complete the proof of Theorem 3.8.
Example 7.15. Let us compute the integral
I
I
ez dz
ez dz
=
,
3
2
2
C z z 5z 3
C (z + 1) (z 3)
around the circle of radius 2 centered at the origin. We use (7.36) with
f (z) =

ez
,
z3

whereby

f (z) =

(z 4) ez
.
(z 3)2

Or, more generally, any closed curve that has winding number +1 around the point z = a.

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z=a

Figure 38.

Computing a Residue.

Since f (z) is analytic inside C, the integral formula (7.36) tells us that
I
I
ez dz
f (z)
5 i
=
dz = 2 i f (1) =
.
3
2
2
8e
C z z 5z 3
C (z + 1)
The Calculus of Residues
Cauchys Theorem and Integral Formulae provide us with some amazingly versatile
tools for evaluating complicated complex integrals. The upshot is that one only needs
to understand the singularities of the integrand within the domain of integration no
indefinite integration is required! With a little more work, we are led to a general method
for efficiently computing contour integrals, known as the Calculus of Residues. While the
residue method has no counterpart in real integration theory, it can, remarkably, be used
to evaluate a large variety of interesting definite real integrals, including many without an
explicitly known anti-derivative.
Definition 7.16. Let f (z) be an analytic function for all z near, but not equal to a.
The residue of f (z) at the point z = a is defined by the contour integral
I
1
f (z) dz,
(7.38)
Res f (z) =
z =a
2 i C
where C is any simple, closed curve that contains a in its interior, oriented, as always, in a
counter-clockwise direction, and such that f (z) is analytic everywhere inside C except at
the point z = a; see Figure 38. For example, C could be a small circle centered at a. The
residue is a complex number, and tells us important information about the singularity of
f (z) at z = a.
The simplest example is the monomial function f (z) = c z n , where c is a complex
constant and the exponent n is assumed to be an integer. (Residues are not defined at
branch points.) According to (7.6),

I
0,
n 6= 1,
1
n
n
c z dz =
(7.39)
Res c z =
z =0
2 i C
c,
n = 1.
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Thus, only the case n = 1 gives a nonzero residue. The residue singles out the function
1/z, which, not coincidentally, is the only one with a logarithmic, and multiply-valued,
antiderivative.
Cauchys Theorem 7.3, when applied to the integral in (7.38), implies that if f (z) is
analytic at z = a, then it has zero residue at a. Therefore, all the monomials, including
1/z, have zero residue at any nonzero point:
Res c z n = 0

for

z =a

a 6= 0.

(7.40)

Since integration is a linear operation, the residue is a linear operator, mapping complex functions to complex numbers:




Res f (z) + g(z) = Res f (z) + Res g(z),
Res c f (z) = c Res f (z),
(7.41)
z =a

z =a

z =a

z =a

z =a

for any complex constant c. Thus, by linearity, the residue of any finite linear combination
of monomials,
n
X
cm
cm+1
c1
n
f (z) = m + m1 + +
+ c0 + c1 z + + cn z =
ck z k ,
z
z
z
k = m

is equal to

Res f (z) = c1 .

z =0

Thus, the residue effectively picks out the coefficient of the term 1/z in such an expansion.
The easiest nontrivial residues to compute are at the poles of a function. According
to (3.9), the function f (z) has a simple pole at z = a if
h(z) = (z a) f (z)

(7.42)

is analytic at z = a and h(a) 6= 0. The next result allows us to bypass the contour integral
when evaluating such a residue.
h(z)
has a simple pole at z = a, then Res f (z) = h(a).
z =a
za
Proof : We substitute the formula for f (z) into the definition (7.38), and so
I
I
h(z) dz
1
1
f (z) dz =
= h(a)
Res f (z) =
z =a
2 i C
2 i C z a
by Cauchys formula (7.35).
Q.E.D.
Lemma 7.17. If f (z) =

Example 7.18. Consider the function

f (z) =

ez
ez
=
.
z2 2 z 3
(z + 1)(z 3)

From the factorization of the denominator, we see that f (z) has simple pole singularities
at z = 1 and z = 3. The residues are given, respectively, by


ez
1
e3
ez 
ez 
ez
=

=
=
,
Res
=
.
Res 2
z = 3 z2 2 z 3
z = 1 z 2 z 3
z 3 z = 1
4e
z + 1 z = 3
4

Since f (z) is analytic everywhere else, its residue at any other point is automatically 0.
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Recall that a function g(z) is said to have simple zero at z = a provided

g(z) = (z a) k(z)

where k(z) is analytic at z = a and k(a) = g (a) 6= 0. If f (z) is analytic at z = a, then the
quotient
f (z)
f (z)
=
g(z)
(z a) k(z)
has a simple pole at z = a, with residue
Res

z =a

f (a)
f (a)
f (z)
f (z)
= Res
=
=
g(z) z = a (z a) k(z)
k(a)
g (a)

(7.43)

by Lemma 7.17. More generally, if z = a is a zero of order n of

n

g(z) = (z a) k(z),
then

so that

1
dn1
f (z)
=
Res
z = a g(z)
(n 1) ! dz n1

g (n) (a)
k(a) =
6 0,
=
n!


f (z)
k(z)

(7.44)

z=a

The proof of the latter formula is left as an exercise for the reader.
Example 7.19. As an illustration, let us compute the residue of sec z = 1/ cos z at
the point z = 12 . Note that cos z has a simple zero at z = 12 since its derivative, namely
sin z, is nonzero there. Thus, according to (7.43) with f (z) 1,
Res sec z = Res

z = /2

z = /2

1
1
= 1.
=
cos z
sin 12

The direct computation of the residue using the defining contour integral (7.38) is much
harder.
The Residue Theorem
Residues are the building blocks of a general method for computing contour integrals
of analytic functions. The Residue Theorem says that the value of the integral of a complex
function around a closed curve depends only on its residues at the enclosed singularities.
Since the residues can be computed directly from the function, the resulting formula provides an effective mechanism for painless evaluation of complex integrals, that completely
avoids the anti-derivative. Indeed, the residue method copntinues to be effective even when
the integrand does not have an anti-derivative that can be expressed in terms of elementary
functions.
Theorem 7.20. Let C be a simple, closed curve, oriented in the counter-clockwise
direction. Suppose f (z) is analytic everywhere inside C except at a finite number of
singularities, a1 , . . . , an . Then
I
1
f (z) dz = Res f (z) + + Res f (z).
(7.45)
z = a1
z = an
2 i C
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Peter J. Olver

C1
a1
C2
a2
C

Figure 39.

Residues Inside a Contour.

Keep in mind that only the singularities that lie inside the contour C contribute to
the residue formula (7.45).
Proof : We draw a small circle Ci around each singularity ai . We assume the circles
all lie inside the contour C and do not cross each other, so that ai is the only singularity
contained within Ci ; see Figure 39. Definition 7.16 implies that
I
1
f (z) dz,
(7.46)
Res f (z) =
z = ai
2 i Ci
where the line integral is taken in the counter-clockwise direction around Ci .
Consider the domain consisting of all points z which lie inside the given curve C,
but outside all the small circles C1 , . . . , Cn ; this is the shaded region in Figure 39. By
our construction, the function f (z) is analytic on , and hence by Cauchys Theorem 7.3,
the integral of f (z) around the boundary is zero. The boundary must be oriented
consistently, so that the domain is always lying on ones left hand side. This means that
the outside contour C should be traversed in a counter-clockwise direction, whereas the
inside circles Ci are taken in a clockwise direction. Therefore, the integral around the
boundary of the domain can be broken up into a difference
1
0=
2 i

1
f (z) dz =
2 i
1
=
2 i

f (z)
f (z)

n
X

i=1
n
X
i=1

1
dz
2 i

f (z) dz
Ci

Res f (z) dz.

z = ai

The minus sign converts the circular integrals to the counterclockwise orientation used in
the definition (7.46) of the residues. Rearranging the final identity leads to the residue
formula (7.45).
Q.E.D.
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Example 7.21. Let us use residues to evaluate the contour integral

I
ez
dz
2
Cr z 2 z 3
where Cr denotes the circle of radius r centered at the origin. According to Example 7.18,
the integrand has two singularities at 1 and 3, with respective residues 1/(4 e) and
e3 /4. If the radius of the circle is r > 3, then it goes around both singularities, and hence
by the residue formula (7.45)


I
ez dz
(e4 1) i
1
e3
=
= 2 i
+
,
r > 3.
2
4e
4
2e
C z 2z 3
If the circle has radius 1 < r < 3, then it only encircles the singularity at 1, and hence
I
i
ez
dz =
,
1 < r < 3.
2
2e
C z 2z 3
If 0 < r < 1, the function has no singularities inside the circle and hence, by Cauchys
Theorem 7.3, the integral is 0. Finally, when r = 1 or r = 3, the contour passes through a
singularity, and the integral does not converge.
Evaluation of Real Integrals
One important and unexpected application of the Residue Theorem 7.20 is to
aid in the evaluation of certain definite real integrals. Of particular note is that it even
applies to cases in which one is unable to evaluate the corresponding indefinite integral
in closed form. Nevertheless, converting the definite real integral into (part of a) complex
contour integral leads to a direct evaluation via the calculus of residues that sidesteps the
difficulties in finding the antiderivative.
The method treats two basic types of real integral, although numerous variations appear in more extensive treatments of the subject. The first category are real trigonometric
integrals of the form
Z 2
F (cos , sin ) d.
(7.47)
I=
0

Such integrals can often

be evaluated
by converting them into complex integrals around


the unit circle C = | z | = 1 . If we set
z = ei

so

1
= e i ,
z

then
e i + e i
1
cos =
=
2
2

1
z+
z

e i e i
1
sin =
=
2i
2i

Moreover,
dz = de i = i e i d = i z d,
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73

and so

d =

1
z
z

dz
.
iz

c 2016

. (7.48)

(7.49)
Peter J. Olver

Therefore, the integral (7.47) can be written in the complex form



I
z + z 1 z + z 1 dz
I=
F
,
.
2
2i
iz
C

(7.50)

If we know that the resulting complex integrand is well-defined and single-valued, except,
possibly, for a finite number of singularities inside the unit circle, then the residue formula (7.45) tells us that the integral can be directly evaluated by adding together its
residues and multiplying by 2 i .
Example 7.22. We compute the relatively simple example
Z 2
d
.
2 + cos
0

Applying the substitution (7.50), we find

I
I
Z 2
2 dz
dz
d


= i
=
.
1
2
1
2 + cos
)
C z + 4z + 1
C i z 2 + 2 (z + z
0

The complex integrand has singularities where its denominator vanishes:

z 2 + 4 z + 1 = 0,
so that
z = 2 3 .

Only one of these singularities, namely 2 + 3 lies inside the unit circle. Therefore,
applying (7.43), we find

I
2 dz
4 
2
2
i
= 2 Res 2
=
= .

2

2 z + 4 z = 2+ 3
3
z = 2+ 3 z + 4 z + 1
C z + 4z + 1

As you may recall from first year calculus, this particular integral can, in fact, be computed
directly via a trigonometric substitution. However, the integration is not particularly
pleasant, and, with a little practice, the residue method is seen to be an easier method.
Moreover, it straightforwardly applies to situations where no elementary anti-derivative
exists.
Example 7.23. The goal is to evaluate the definite integral
Z
cos 2
d.
0 3 cos

The first thing to note is that the integral omnly runs from 0 to and so is not explicitly
of the form (7.47). However, note that the integrand is even, and so
Z
Z
1 cos 2
cos 2
d =
d,
2 3 cos
0 3 cos
which will turn into a contour integral around the entire unit circle under the substitution
(7.48). Also note that


1
1
e2 i + e 2 i
2
z + 2 ,
=
cos 2 =
2
2
z
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and so
Z

cos 2
d =
3 cos

1 2
2
)
2 (z + z
1
1
2 (z + z )

dz
= i
iz

z4 + 1
dz.
z 2 (z 2 6 z + 1)

The denominator has 4 roots at 0, 3 2 2, and 3 + 2 2 but the last one does not
lie inside the unit circle and so cn be ignored. We use (7.43) with f (z) = (z 4 + 1)/z 2 and
g(z) = z 2 6 z + 1 to compute
Res

z = 32 2


z4 + 1
z 4 + 1 
1
=
=

2
2
2

z (z 6 z + 1)
z
z = 2+ 3 2 z 6

17
4

2,

whereas (7.44) is used to compute

d
z4 + 1
=
Res 2 2
z = 0 z (z 6 z + 1)
dz

z4 + 1
z2 6 z + 1

Therefore,
Z

z =0


2(z 5 9 z 4 + 2 z 3 z + 3) 
= 6.
=

(z 2 6 z + 1)2
z =0



z4 + 1
z4 + 1
cos 2
= 6 +
d = Res 2 2
+ Res 2 2
z = 0 z (z 6 z + 1)
3 cos
z = 32 2 z (z 6 z + 1)

17
4

2 .

A second type of real integral that can often be evaluated by complex residues are
integrals over the entire real line, from to . Here the technique is a little more subtle,
and we sneak up on the integral by using larger and larger closed contours that include
more and more of the real axis. The basic idea is contained in the following example.
Example 7.24. The problem is to evaluate the real integral
I=

cos x
dx.
1 + x2

(7.51)

The corresponding indefinite integral cannot be evaluated in elementary terms, and so we

are forced to rely on the calculus of residues. We begin by noting that the integrand is
even, and hence the integral I = 21 J is one half the integral
J=

cos x
dx
1 + x2

over the entire real line. Moreover, for x real, we can write
cos x
eix
=
Re
,
1 + x2
1 + x2

and hence

J = Re

eix
dx.
1 + x2

(7.52)

Let CR be the closed contour consisting of a large semicircle of radius R 0, which

we denote by SR , connected at its ends by the real interval R x R, as plotted in
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Peter J. Olver

SR

R
Figure 40.

R
The Semicircular Contour.

Figure 40 Figure 40, and having the usual counterclockwise orientation. The corresponding
contour integral
Z R ix
Z
I
e dx
e i z dz
e i z dz
=
+
(7.53)
2
2
2
R 1 + x
SR 1 + z
CR 1 + z
breaks up into two pieces: the first over the real interval, and the second over the semicircle.
As the radius R , the semicircular contour CR includes more and more of the real
axis, and so the first integral gets closer and closer to our desired integral (7.52). If we can
prove that the second, semicircular integral goes to zero, then we will be able to evaluate
the integral over the real axis by contour integration, and hence by the method of residues.
Our hope that the semicircular integral is small seems reasonable, since the integrand
(1 + z 2 )1 e i z gets smaller and smaller as | z | provided Im z 0. (Why?) A rigorous
verification of this fact will appear at the end of the example.
According to the Residue Theorem 7.20, the integral (7.53) is equal to the sum of all
the residues at the singularities of f (z) lying inside the contour CR . Now ez is analytic
everywhere, and so the singularities occur where the denominator vanishes, i.e., z 2 = 1,
and so are at z = i . Since the semicircle lies in the upper half plane Im z > 0, only the
singularity z = + i lies inside and then only when R > 1. To compute the residue, we
use (7.43) to evaluate

eiz
e1
e i z 
1
Res
=
=
=
.

2
z= i 1 + z
2z z= i
2i
2ie
Therefore, by (7.45),

1
2 i

CR

e i z dz
1
=
,
2
1+z
2ie

provided

R > 1.

Thus, assuming the semicircular part of the integral does indeed become vanishingly small
as R , we conclude that
I
Z ix
e i z dz
1

e dx
=
lim
= 2 i
= .
2
2
R
2ie
e
CR 1 + z
1 + x
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Incidentally, the integral is real because its imaginary part,

Z
sin x dx
= 0,
2
1 + x
is the integral of an odd function which is automatically zero. Consequently,
Z
Z ix
cos x dx
e dx
1

I=
= Re
=
,
2
2
1+x
2
2e
0
1 + x

(7.54)

which is the desired result.

To complete the argument, let us estimate the size of the semicircular integral. Since
| 1 + z 2 | | z |2 1 > 0
while

 iz 
 e  = e y 1

whenever

the integrand is bounded by



 eiz 
1
1


 1 + z 2  | z |2 1 = R 2 1

for
z = x+ iy

provided

| z | > 1,
with

| z | = R > 1,

y 0,

and

Im z 0.

According to Corollary 7.11, the size of the integral of a complex function is bounded by its
maximum modulus along the curve times the length of the semicircle, namely R. Thus,
in our case,

Z
iz


e
dz
 R

0
as
1 < R ,


2
R2 1
SR 1 + z
as required.

Example 7.25. Here we will use residues to evaluate the real integral
Z
dx
.
4
1 + x

(7.55)

The indefinite integral can, in fact, be found by the method of partial fractions, but, as
you may know, this is not a particularly pleasant task. Let us try the method of residues.
Let CR denote the same semicircular contour as in Figure 40. The integrand has pole
singularities where the denominator vanishes, i.e., z 4 = 1, and so at the four fourth roots
of 1. These are

1+ i
1 + i
1 i
1 i
e i /4 = ,
e3 i /4 =
,
e5 i /4 = ,
e7 i /4 =
.
2
2
2
2
Only the first two roots lie inside CR when R > 1. Their residues can be computed using
(7.43):

1
e3 i /4
1 
1 i
,
Res
=
=
=

4
3
4 z z = e i /4
4
z = e i /4 1 + z
4 2

e9 i /4
1 
1 i
1
=
=
= .
Res

4
3
4z
4
z = e3 i /4 1 + z
3 i /4
4 2
z =e

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Peter J. Olver

Therefore, by the residue formula (7.45),



I
dz
1 i

1 i
+
= 2 i
= .
4
4 2
4 2
2
CR 1 + z

(7.56)

On the other hand, we can break up the contour integral into an integral along the
real axis and an integral around the semicircle:
Z R
Z
I
dx
dz
dz
=
+
.
4
4
4
R 1 + x
SR 1 + z
CR 1 + z
The first integral goes to the desired real integral as the radius R . On the other
hand, on a large semicircle | z | = R, the integrand is small:


 1 
1
1


when
| z | = R > 1.
 1 + z 4  | z |4 1 = R 4 1

Thus, using Corollary 7.11, the integral around the semicircle can be bounded by

Z


R
dz


0
as
R .


4
4
R 1
SR 1 + z

Thus, the complex integral (7.56) converges to the desired real integral (7.55) as R ,
and so
Z
dx

.
=
4
2
1 + x
Note that the result is real and positive, as it must be.

Acknowledgments: Thanks to Zbigniew Kabala and Sheehan Olver for corrections and
comments on earlier versions of these notes.

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Peter J. Olver

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Peter J. Olver