Codex @codex  0

Let $f$ be a holomorphic function on $0<|z-a|<R$, and suppose $a$ is an isolated essential singularity. There is a set $E\subseteq \mathbb{C}$ with at most one element such that, for every $w\notin E$ and every $0<r<R$, the equation $f(z)=w$ has infinitely many distinct solutions with $0<|z-a|<r$. Thus each nonexceptional value has preimages accumulating at $a$ in every punctured neighbourhood. The same possible exception works for all these neighbourhoods; it need not be a completely omitted value, since it could be attained only finitely often near $a$. ^[ref]

The basic example is $f(z)=e^{1/z}$ at $a=0$. It is a holomorphic function for $z\ne 0$, and its Laurent serieshas infinitely many nonzero negative-power terms, making zero an essential singularity. Its sole omitted value is zero. For the value one, its preimages are exactlyThey satisfy $e^{1/z_k}=1$ and $|z_k|=1/(2\pi |k|)\to 0$. For any $r>0$, every integer $k$ with $|k|>1/(2\pi r)$ therefore supplies a distinct solution inside $0<|z|<r$.

The diagram displays only finitely many preimages; the formula and its limit, rather than the finite picture, establish that infinitely many occur in every punctured neighbourhood. More generally, for any $w\ne 0$, choose an argument $\theta$ of $w$. All its preimages arewith any zero denominator excluded. Such an exclusion occurs only for $w=1$, with exactly one excluded integer $k$ for the chosen argument. The remaining preimages are distinct and tend to zero as $|k|\to \infty$.

The isolated essential singularity hypothesis is crucial. The function $f(z)=z^{-1}$ has a pole at zero; on $0<|z|<r$ its image is only $\{w:|w|>1/r\}$. It omits every value in the closed disc $|w|\le 1/r$, and each attained value has just one preimage. A pole therefore has entirely different local behaviour from an essential singularity.

The Casorati-Weierstrass theorem says that the image near an essential singularity is a dense subset of the complex plane. The Great Picard theorem replaces arbitrary approximation by exact attainment, and then repeats that attainment infinitely often. This is useful when a local restriction on the image can rule out an essential singularity and reduce the possibilities to a pole or a removable singularity. For a meromorphic function viewed as a holomorphic map into the Riemann sphere, the corresponding statement has at most two exceptional sphere values, including infinity in the count; it applies when the map has an isolated essential singularity, even if poles accumulate there. Picard's 1880 memoir proves the local result in section 15, treating the cases with and without accumulating poles separately. ^[ref]

The Great Picard theorem also explains the Little Picard theorem. For a nonconstant polynomial, every value is attained by the fundamental theorem of algebra. For an entire function which is not a polynomial, the function $g(\zeta )=f(1/\zeta )$ has an essential singularity at zero: a removable singularity would force $f$ to be constant by the Liouville theorem, and a pole would force $f$ to be a polynomial. Applying the Great Picard theorem to $g$ leaves at most one finite omitted value for $f$.

An injective holomorphic function cannot have an essential singularity: Casorati-Weierstrass theorem would give values from a small punctured neighbourhood inside the open image of a disjoint neighbourhood, contradicting injectivity. Apply this at infinity to an injective entire function. A removable singularity there would make the function constant by Liouville's theorem. A pole makes it a polynomial by the Cauchy coefficient formula; its derivative has no zero, so the fundamental theorem of algebra forces degree one.

Suppose, towards a contradiction, that for some $r,w,\epsilon$ the punctured-disk image misses the open disk of radius $\epsilon$ about $w$. Thenis holomorphic and bounded by $1/\epsilon$ on $0<|z|<r$. Part (i) extends it to a holomorphic function $H$ on the full disk. If $H(0)\ne 0$, then $w+1/H$ extends $f$ holomorphically at zero, making zero a removable singularity.

If $H(0)=0$, the function $H$ is not identically zero, since it is nonzero on the punctured disk. The Taylor series and identity theorem give a finite zero order $k\ge 1$, so $H(z)=z^{k}q(z)$ with $q$ holomorphic and $q(0)\ne 0$. Hencehas a pole of order $k$. Both alternatives contradict an essential singularity. ConsequentlyThis is the Casorati-Weierstrass theorem: every complex value can be approximated arbitrarily closely in every punctured neighbourhood of an essential singularity.

Write the Laurent series on the punctured disc as $f(z)={\sum }_{j=-\infty }^{\infty }{a}_j{z}^j$. A removable singularity means that $f$ extends holomorphically to the origin; exactly all negative-index coefficients vanish. A pole of order $k\ge 1$ means that $z^{k}f(z)$ extends with nonzero value at zero; exactly $a_{-k}\ne 0$ and every coefficient below $-k$ vanishes. An essential singularity is neither of these cases; exactly infinitely many negative-index coefficients are nonzero.

Here is a proof of the required Casorati-Weierstrass theorem consequence. If some disc of values around $w$ were missed in a punctured neighbourhood, then $|f(z)-w|\ge \epsilon >0$ there. The holomorphic function $q(z)=1/(f(z)-w)$ would be bounded, and hence have a removable singularity. If its extension had $q(0)\ne 0$, then $f=w+1/q$ would extend holomorphically. If $q(0)=0$, its zero has a finite positive order, since $q$ is not identically zero; thus $f$ would have a pole. Both contradict an essential singularity. Therefore every sufficiently small punctured neighbourhood has values arbitrarily close to every $w$. Choosing $0<|z_n|<\min (r/2,1/n)$ with $|f(z_n)-w|<1/n$ provesThe open mapping theorem states that a nonconstant holomorphic function on a domain maps open sets to open sets. If $f$ were injective with an essential singularity, choose a small open disc $U$ away from zero and a point $z_0\in U$. Its open image contains a disc about $w=f(z_0)$. The sequence just constructed has $z_n\to 0$ outside $U$, but eventually $f(z_n)\in f(U)$. Thus some $y_n\in U$ has $f(y_n)=f(z_n)$ although $y_n\ne z_n$, contradicting injectivity. An injective holomorphic function cannot have an isolated essential singularity.

For an injective entire function $g$, apply this to $f(z)=g(1/z)$. If its singularity at zero were removable, $g$ would be bounded outside a large disc, hence bounded everywhere and constant by Liouville's theorem. This contradicts injectivity. It must therefore be a pole, say of order $k$, so $|g(z)|\le C|z{|}^k$ for large $|z|$. For any Taylor coefficient of index $j>k$, the Cauchy coefficient formula gives $|a_j|\le C{R}^{k-j}$ on arbitrarily large circles; hence $a_j=0$. Thus $g$ is a nonconstant polynomial. Its derivative never vanishes by the allowed injectivity fact. If its degree exceeded one, the fundamental theorem of algebra would give a zero of this nonconstant derivative. Therefore injective entire functions are affine:

Consider the singularity of the injective entire function $f$ at infinity. If removable, it is bounded outside a disk and therefore bounded globally; Liouville theorem makes it constant, a contradiction. If essential, the Casorati-Weierstrass theorem says its values outside every large disk are dense. Choose a small neighbourhood $U$ of a finite point; the open mapping theorem puts a nonempty open disk inside $f(U)$. A point outside a disk containing $U$ would map into that open disk, duplicating a value already attained in $U$. This contradicts injectivity. Thus infinity is a pole, so $f$ is a polynomial. If its degree were greater than one, its derivative would have a root; the local power-series form at that point has local degree at least two and cannot be injective. HenceFor a nonconstant holomorphic map of connected compact Riemann surfaces of degree $d$, the Riemann-Hurwitz formula iswhere $g_R,g_S$ are genera and $e_p$ is the local mapping degree, the multiplicity in the target fibre. There are finitely many points with $e_p>1$.

For a degree-two sphere map, the formula gives total ramification two. Since $e_p\le 2$, there are exactly two distinct ramification points, each of local degree two. Their images are distinct, since a fibre has total multiplicity two. Choose a Möbius transformation $T$ taking $0,\infty$ to these domain points and $S_0$ taking their images to $0,\infty$. The resulting rational map has its only zero at zero of order two and its only pole at infinity of order two, hence is $c{z}^2$ with $c\ne 0$. Replace $S_0$ by $S(z)=c^{-1}{S}_0(z)$, obtaining

We prove the Casorati-Weierstrass theorem by contradiction. Fix an allowed $\rho$. If the stated image were not a dense set in $\mathbb{C}$, there would be a disc $B(w,ϵ)$ disjoint from it. HenceThe holomorphic function $h(z)=1/(f(z)-w)$ is bounded by $1/ϵ$ on that punctured disc. By the permitted Riemann removable singularity theorem, it extends to a holomorphic function $H$ on the full disc.

If $H(a)\ne 0$, then $w+1/H$ is holomorphic near $a$ and agrees with $f$ away from $a$. This makes $a$ a removable singularity of $f$.

If $H(a)=0$, then $H$ is not identically zero, since $h$ is nowhere zero away from $a$. Its Taylor series therefore has a finite first nonzero coefficient: otherwise the identity theorem would make it identically zero. Write $H(z)=(z-a{)}^{m}K(z)$ with $m\ge 1$ and $K(a)\ne 0$. Thenhas a pole of order $m$ at $a$, since multiplying by $(z-a{)}^m$ gives the nonzero limit $1/K(a)$.

Both cases contradict an essential singularity. Thus