Branch point

A branch point is a point around which a sufficiently small loop can change a germ of a holomorphic function under analytic continuation. This is a local condition: a large loop around a regular point might also enclose a distant branch point, so that large loop alone cannot classify the regular point. For the complex logarithm and square root, every nonzero point has a local holomorphic branch, but a loop once around $0$ changes the chosen branch. ^[ref]

For $z=r{e}^{it}$ with fixed $r>0$, start at $t=0$ with values $\sqrt{r}$ and $\log r$. Their continuations areOne counterclockwise turn gives $w(2\pi )=-\sqrt{r}$ and $L(2\pi )=\log r+2\pi i$. At $r=4$, the square root therefore changes from $2$ to $-2$, while the logarithm changes from $\log 4$ to $\log 4+2\pi i$. Two turns restore the square root to $2$; no nonzero number of turns restores the logarithm. This distinguishes a two-sheeted algebraic branch point from a logarithmic singularity.

A pole need not be a branch point: $1/z$ is unbounded near $0$, yet $1/(r{e}^{it})=r^{-1}{e}^{-it}$ returns to its starting value after one turn. Conversely, the square-root values tend to $0$ at their branch point. The issue is whether a single holomorphic choice survives going around the point, rather than whether the values become large. On the Riemann sphere, infinity is also a branch point of both $\sqrt{z}$ and $\log z$: in the local coordinate $\zeta =1/z$, these are ${\zeta }^{-1/2}$ and $-\log \zeta$, whose continuations around $\zeta =0$ change sign and subtract $2\pi i$, respectively. ^[ref]

The complex logarithm has infinite-sheeted branching: continuing once around its zero changes its value by $2\pi i$. Multiplication by a function vanishing at that point need not remove the branching. For example $z^m\log z$ with positive integer $m$ tends to zero but changes by $2\pi i{z}^m$ after continuation around zero. This remains a branch point, rather than a removable singularity, because no single-valued holomorphic function exists on a full punctured neighbourhood. The coordinate $w=1/z$ tests logarithmic branching at infinity in the same way.

At an algebraic branch point, a local solution becomes meromorphic after the finite substitution $z-a=t^k$. The displayed convergent expansion has only finitely many negative terms. A square-root branch point corresponds to $k=2$; an essential singularity or logarithmic singularity need not become meromorphic under any such finite substitution.

A square-root branch point has ramification index $2$: one circuit switches local branches and two restore the original branch. Both zero and infinity are square-root branch points of $z^{-1/2}$, since the coordinate $u=1/z$ changes the latter local expression to $u^{1/2}$. A finite limiting value at a branch point does not imply a removable singularity.

A branch of a multivalued analytic expression is a single-valued holomorphic function on a specified domain that consistently selects one of the expression's possible values. A branch cut is a convenient way to choose such a domain, rather than an intrinsic locus of singularities. On $D=\mathbb{C}\setminus (-\infty ,0]$, the principal logarithm supplies two square-root branchesFor $z=i$, these give $B_{+}(i)=e^{i\pi /4}=(1+i)/\sqrt{2}$ and $B_{-}(i)=-(1+i)/\sqrt{2}$. Their derivatives follow by differentiating $B_{\pm }^2=z$: $B_{\pm }^{\prime }=1/(2B_{\pm })$, so $B_{+}^{\prime }(i)=(1-i)/(2\sqrt{2})$. There are exactly two branches on $D$: for any other holomorphic square root $B$, the ratio $B/B_{+}$ is continuous, takes values in $\{1,-1\}$, and hence is constant on the connected domain.

The cut can move. Choosing $0<\theta <2\pi$ defines a holomorphic logarithm $L_{+}(z)=\log |z|+i\theta$ on $D_{+}=\mathbb{C}\setminus [0,\infty )$. At $-1$ this gives $L_{+}(-1)=i\pi$ and $\exp (L_{+}(-1)/2)=i$, both regular values despite $-1$ lying on the previous cut. In the complex upper half-plane, $L_{+}$ agrees with $\mathrm{Log}$; in the lower half-plane it equals $\mathrm{Log}+2\pi i$, so the corresponding square roots have opposite signs there. The overlap $D\cap D_{+}$ has two components, exactly why the identity theorem cannot force agreement between them. ^[ref]

For example, the limits of $B_{+}$ at $-r$, $r>0$, are $i\sqrt{r}$ from above and $-i\sqrt{r}$ from below. This jump records the chosen branch cut; each point $-r\ne 0$ still has a neighbourhood supporting a holomorphic square root. Moving the cut changes the bookkeeping, while the branch point at $0$ and its monodromy persist. Specifying a branch of a multivalued function is therefore essential before differentiating or performing contour integration with holomorphic square roots, complex logarithms or complex exponentiation.

A single-valued choice from a multivalued relation which is a holomorphic function on its domain. For example, a holomorphic branch of the square root of a nonvanishing holomorphic function $h$ is a holomorphic function $g$ satisfying $g^2=h$. On a domain, any two such choices differ by a fixed sign, since their continuous quotient takes values in the discrete set $\{1,-1\}$.

Letwhere $P$ has a simple zero at $a$, and let $A$ be the limiting value of $W$ at $a$ on one sheet. Analytic continuation once around $a$ changes the sign of the square root and hence of $W^{\prime }$. The continued primitive agrees at $a$ with the original one, so it is

If continuation around two square-root branch points acts on a primitive as $R_A(W)=2A-W$ and $R_B(W)=2B-W$, thenThus pairs of branch-point loops generate additive periods of an inverse function.