Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 10 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The zero-prescription claim requires a closed discrete subset, meaning no accumulation in . If “discrete” means only that each listed point is isolated, it is false: is a discrete subset, but any holomorphic function vanishing there is identically zero by the identity theorem for holomorphic functions, and then has additional zeros. In the usual zero-set interpretation, discreteness includes local finiteness. We prove the claim with this necessary interpretation.
First choose an increasing compact exhaustion of by relatively filled sets: every component of meets . Such an exhaustion is obtained by exhausting with finite unions of small closed squares lying in , then adding all complementary components relatively compact in . The filled sets remain compact in : a complementary component containing a point within distance of the complement could join that complement through a ball disjoint from , and hence would not be filled. Their boundedness follows by using a disk containing the initial compact. Nesting can be ensured by enlarging each stage first. This is also the geometric description of the holomorphic convex hull proved below.
A finite prescribed set is realized by a finite product of linear factors. For an infinite closed discrete subset, enumerate the distinct points as . Every compact contains only finitely many of them, so there are indices with . Finitely many initial factors can be handled without an approximation requirement. For the remaining factors, let be the complementary component containing . It also contains a point or infinity. Join to by an arc in that component, or to infinity by a ray-like arc. DefineEach is a holomorphic function on , has exactly one simple zero, at , and no other zeros there.
The arc is disjoint from , and has a holomorphic logarithm near that compact. To justify the logarithm, any closed curve avoiding the arc has equal winding numbers about its finite endpoints, so the integral of around it is zero. For a ray to infinity the winding number about is zero. A primitive of , adjusted by a constant on each component, supplies the logarithm.
The Runge theorem proved in Question 4 approximates uniformly on by : all needed finite poles can be chosen outside because every complementary component meets its complement. Choose the error small enough thatEach still has exactly the simple zero . On every fixed compact, all sufficiently late factors satisfy the summable bound above. Hence their infinite product converges locally uniformly. It has a nonzero tail because, once , its logarithmic tails satisfy and converge absolutely. Thus multiplying by the finitely many earlier factors gives a holomorphic function with precisely the prescribed zeros, and no additional zeros. Repeating a factor to any prescribed finite positive multiplicity gives the corresponding multiplicity version. This is prescribed zeros in a plane domain via Runge approximation, not an invocation of the existence theorem being asked for.
For the specified infinite product, put . On any compact annulus ,The logarithmic-tail estimate therefore proves locally uniform convergence on and nonvanishing wherever no individual factor vanishes. At a zero of one factor, the product is zero and the remaining product converges to a nonzero value. ConsequentlyAll these zeros are simple and distinct: their moduli distinguish the two strings and their indices. At the reciprocal factors are undefined, so the given expression has no convergence value there. The infinite sequence of zeros tending to zero also rules out continuation across that point as a holomorphic function.
Set . Absolute local convergence allows reindexing:Since , for every . No division by a vanishing factor is involved, so the identity also holds at all the zeros.
Every closed discrete subset of a plane domain is the zero set of a holomorphic function, with assigned finite positive multiplicities if desired. Exhaust the domain by relatively filled compact sets. For a prescribed point outside an earlier compact, choose a rational factor with that zero and its possible pole outside the domain in the same complementary component. A slit joining zero and pole allows a holomorphic logarithm near the earlier compact. Approximate that logarithm by Runge theorem and multiply the rational factor by the negative exponential of the approximant. The resulting factors tend to one with summable errors on each compact. Their infinite product has the prescribed zeros and no additional zeros.
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