Lecture 1: Complex numbers and functions: review

Vladimir Mangazeev: [email protected]

Department of Theoretical Physics, RSPE

 Why do we need complex numbers ?

The imaginary numbers are a

wonderful flight of God’s spirit; they
are almost an amphibian between
being and not being (Leibniz, 1702)

Some applications:
 Solving Laplace’s equation for a pair of functions u and v, both
satisfying
 Integrals in the complex plane: evaluating integrals, solving ODEs,
inverting power series and integral transforms, approximate methods
 Analytic properties of functions and applications to physics: analytic
continuation, conformal maps etc.
 Imaginary rotation ( ) transforms one physical problem to
another: Helmholtz equation to diffusion equation, QFT to Eucledian
QFT etc.
 Complex algebra
A complex number is an ordered pair of two real numbers, (a,b) or
a complex variable is an ordered pair of two real variables

We denote a set of complex numbers as

To define the algebra of complex numbers we need: a). A unit element 1
and a zero element 0; b). Multiplication by real numbers; c). Addition of
complex numbers; d). Multiplication of complex numbers.
a), b) and c) are simply defined by linearity:
a) A unit element is 1=(1,0), 0=(0,0), real numbers are (a,0);

b) -real numbers;

c) ;

d) How to define multiplication of complex numbers ? It needs to

satisfy distributive and associative laws of algebra.
 Complex algebra

Distributive law Associative law

With that in mind we define the product of complex numbers as

Since complex numbers form a 2d linear space, we can introduce the basis
 Geometric representation

With any complex number we can associate a 2d vector in the plane.

We assign to a complex number a point .

Argand
diagram

In polar coordinates
 Geometric representation

Addition in Cartesian coordinates Multiplication in polar coordinates

-triangle inequalities
 Complex functions

Now we can construct mappings of complex numbers: complex functions

For a given z=x+iy we know both x and y, for a given w=u+iv we know
both u and v. Algebraically this is wrong but we will come back to this.
 Complex conjugation
Example 1.

In this example u(x,y) and v(x,y) are not completely independent. This is
because f(z) depends on x and y only via .

We can introduce a complex conjugation of a complex variable :

 Complex conjugation

For given and we can algebraically (i.e. using only addition and
multiplication) find and . The inverse is also true, for given and
we can uniquely find and .

Coordinates and are called

holomorphic. It is implied that they
are algebraically independent.

So, in general, a complex function f(z) defines a mapping from points

(x,y), z=x+iy, to points (u,v), w=u+iv. Algebraically we imply that
 Permanence of algebraic form

All elementary functions like , and so on, can be

extended into the complex plane by simply replacing .
Say, the exponential function is given by a power series

It means that for z=(x,0)=x it coincides with the real function and we
simply extend it to the complex plane by replacing .

This extension is called permanence of the algebraic form.

Such extended functions depend agebraically only on and

play a very important role in complex analysis and applications.
They are also called holomorphic functions. They are a
subclass of functions which algebraically depend on both
.
 Simple examples

Example 2.

Take and use We obtain

In particular,
 De Moivre’s formulas

We obtain De Moivre’s formulas for and :

 Application: Impedance and electrical networks

Complex numbers are extremely useful in description of electrical

networks involving basic circuit elements: resistors, capacitors and
inductors.
Calculations of currents, voltages in a complex form are so much simpler
and to get physical answers we simply take a real part at the end.

The term impedance was introduced by Oliver Heaviside in July 1886. Arthur
Kennelly was the first to represent impedance with complex numbers in 1893.

Let us remind three forms of relation between V and I :

1. Resistor, - Ohm’s law ;

2. Capacitor, ;

3. Inductor, - from Faraday’s law.

 Application: Impedance and electrical networks

We consider AC currents of a certain frequency .

We use a complex exponential form with a phase shift

Physical voltage and current can be extracted by taking a real part

Assume that voltage and current of a circuit are given by

We define impedance Z as
 Application: Impedance and electrical networks

1. Resistors:

2. Capacitors:

3. Inductors:
 Combining impedances

Once we know impedances of circuit elements, the total impedance can

be calculated using combining them in series and parallel. Rules are
identical for combining resistances, except that the numbers are
complex.
 Example

Consider the following circuit made of a resistor, capacitor and inductor.

We apply the AC voltage V(t) to the circuit. Find the current through the
circuit.

First we write
 Example

The total impedance of the circuit is

Remember that

The answer for a real current is

Resonance effect in an LC - circuit

An LC-circuit can store electric energy. The

energy oscillates back and forth between the
capacitor and the inductor until internal
resistance makes the oscillations die out.

By Kirchhoff’s law we have

- resonance frequency

A general real solution is

 Derivatives and Cauchy-Riemann conditions

We define the derivative of f(z), like that of a real function, by

provided that the limit is independent of the particular approach to the point .

Here we imply that the function f(z) depends independently on both x and y
or .

For real variables we require that the

right-hand limit ( from above)
and the left hand limit ( from
below) be equal for the derivative
 Derivatives and Cauchy-Riemann conditions

In 2d we require that the limit is independent on the direction towards the point .

As before let us assume that

and choose two directions:

1. ;

2. ;
Then by the definition of derivative we have

1.

2.
 Cauchy-Riemann conditions

For a derivative of the function to exist at

some point z, its real and imaginary parts should satisfy

This is famous Cauchy-Riemann conditions

Homework: Show that once Cauchy-Riemann conditions are satisfied ( and

the partial derivatives of u and v are continuous), the derivative f’(z) does not
depend on the direction towards the point z .

We will always abbrevations like etc.

Assume that u(x,y) and v(x,y) are double differentiable, then we can
differentiate Cauchy-Riemann conditions with respect to x and y.
 Cauchy-Riemann conditions

For a (twice) differentiable function both u and v

solve Laplace equation. If the function is differentiable everywhere inside a
domain, it gives solutions of the Laplace equation in the domain.
 Geometric interpretation

Consider a curve and its tangent vector at .

Therefore, the vector is

orthogonal to the curve .

Cauchy-Riemann condition:
 Geometric interpretation

So the curves and are always orthogonal to

each other and both functions and solve Laplace equation.

This has many applications:

1. The function u describes a 2d electrostatic potential and the function v
may be used to describe the electric field;
2. The function u may describe the velocity potential of an ideal fluid and
the function v would then be the stream function, etc.
 Examples:
A simple definiton:
If the function f(z) is differentiable at z=z0 and in some small region around z0 ,
we say that f(z) is analytic at z=z0.
If the function f(z) is analytic everywhere in the finite complex plane, we call it
an entire function.
Example 1.

f(z)=z2 is analytic (and entire) function

Example 2. Example 3.

is not analytic is not analytic

 Which functions are analytic ?

Based on these examples, it seems that the algebraic dependence of on

destroys analyticity. This is indeed the case. Holomorphic functions are analytic.

So let us take a holomorphic function which depends

algebraically only on and check derivatives from different directions.

1.

2.

In fact, for any direction

and the derivative doesn’t depend on the direction, so the function is differentiable
 Which functions are analytic ?

The inverse statement is also true:

Cauchy-Riemann conditions for a function f(z)=u+iv require the function to be
holomorphic.

Homework:

1. Consider a change of variables from (x,y) to

and show that for any function

2. Make a change of variables in Cauchy-Riemann equations from (x,y) to

and show that

Laplace equation in holomorphic coordinates has a general

solution , where g(z) and h(z) are two arbitrary functions.
 Multi-valued functions: first encounter

Let us now look at the logarithm function log(z). Since

It is convenient to use polar coordinates ,

However, if we change , the value of z does not change

(remember that ) , but

It looks like the log -function is not continuous, it suddenly jumps by 2p

when argument of z goes around the circle. A resolution to that is to go
to 3d, then the values of Log lie on a surface (Riemann surface).
 Multi-valued functions: first encounter

is continuous in 3d, each layer is called a sheet and the n=0 layer
is called a principal sheet (main branch). Normally it is chosen as

Boundaries of the principal sheet form a branch cut

The Log function can be visualised as a thick (infinite) pack of paper sheets,
each is cut along the real negative axis and glued to the next one along the cut
 Multi-valued functions: first encounter

Now let us have a look at a simpler example of a square root: .

If we increase the argument q by 2p n, the value of returns to its

original value for even n. For odd n, we get the extra sign, since

So the (Riemann) surface of has only two sheets glued together along the cut.