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Write $M(x)={\sum }_{n\le x}\mu (n)$ for the Mertens function. Suppose, to the contrary, that for some $\epsilon >0$ the quotient $|M(x)|/x^{1/2-\epsilon }$ were bounded. Partial summation would then makeconverge and define a holomorphic function throughout $\Re s>1/2-\epsilon$. In $\Re s>1$ the Euler product identifies this function with $1/\zeta (s)$, so analytic continuation would make $1/\zeta (s)$ holomorphic in that larger half-plane.

By assumption, $\zeta$ has a nontrivial zero. The functional equation of the Riemann zeta function reflects one of that zero and its partner into $\Re s\ge 1/2$, where $1/\zeta$ must have a pole, a contradiction. Thus $|M(x)|/x^{1/2-\epsilon }$ is unbounded, which gives an $x\ge 1$ exceeding any prescribed constant $C$.

A free acoustic membrane wave is a zero of the outgoing dispersion relation $D$. At this zero, the impedance seen from one side equals the negative of that side's outgoing normal acoustic impedance. Thus the continued by analytic continuation reflection coefficient has a pole. A real guided mode is evanescent normal to the sheet; a complex root can describe a leaky mode. The pole describes nontrivial homogeneous motion with no incoming wave, rather than unbounded passive reflection at an ordinary real incidence angle.

Zeta function regularization assigns a finite value to a divergent spectral sum by first forming a convergent complex-power series and then using its analytic continuation. For positive frequencies ${\omega }_n$, continue ${\sum }_n{\omega }_n^{-s}$ to $s=-1$ to define a regulated frequency sum, when that continuation is regular there. This does not turn the divergent positive-term sum into an ordinary convergent sum. It is a useful subtraction convention for the normal-ordering constant of a string and for vacuum energies.