For a nonconstant rational map between round unit Riemann spheres, . Counting inverse images with multiplicity gives . The Jacobian determinant vanishes at ramification points of a holomorphic map, but the integral still records the global degree of a holomorphic map.
For a nonconstant holomorphic map between compact connected Riemann surfaces, its degree is
where is the ramification index of a holomorphic map at . The valency theorem makes this sum independent of . The Riemann-Hurwitz formula is
Write . The map is well-defined and biholomorphic, with . Its fixed points satisfy
They are therefore indexed by , so there are four, as in the negation map on a one-dimensional complex torus.
For each choose a small open disc for which . The projection restricts to a homeomorphism
Use followed by a holomorphic coordinate on as a chart on . Choosing instead changes this coordinate by the holomorphic map induced by , so the transition functions are holomorphic. These charts make a Riemann surface and a holomorphic double covering map.
At each omitted fixed point, a centred local coordinate changes by , so the invariant quotient coordinate is . Hence the extension has degree two and exactly four ramification points, each with . Since the complex torus has genus one, Riemann--Hurwitz gives
Thus , in agreement with the general quotient of a one-dimensional complex torus by negation.
Let denote a hyperplane-section divisor of a projective plane curve. The Adjunction formula for a smooth degree- projective plane curve states
Since , this gives the canonical degree of a smooth plane curve
Combining this with gives the genus of a smooth plane curve
Homogenization of the affine equation gives the projective completion
This is the plane model y plus x cubed plus xy cubed equals zero of the Klein quartic: after the coordinate relabelling , its equation is .
Its first partial derivatives are
If one of vanishes at a common zero of these three derivatives, the displayed equations successively force all three coordinates to vanish, which is impossible in projective space. If , multiplying the three derivative equations gives
again a contradiction. The Jacobian criterion therefore proves that is smooth.
The rational function defines a rational map of projective varieties . Because is a smooth projective curve, it extends uniquely to a morphism
For a generic finite value of , its fibre is given by the cubic
so the degree of a holomorphic map is . The discriminant of a depressed cubic is
At the fibre consists of . Since , the holomorphic implicit function theorem gives
so is a local coordinate and has ramification index of a holomorphic map there. Each of the seven distinct roots of gives one double, but not triple, root of the cubic in , hence seven further ramification points of index .
It remains to inspect the points at infinity. They are
Near , set and . The equation becomes , so , while has a simple pole. Thus . Near , set and . Now , so and
Thus has a double pole at and . These calculations are the ramification of the x-coordinate on the Klein quartic after the coordinate relabelling above.
The total ramification contribution is
The Riemann-Hurwitz formula for the degree-three map to the projective line now gives
and therefore
An irreducible complex analytic hypersurface in a complex manifold is a closed irreducible analytic subset of pure complex codimension one. A local defining function of a complex analytic hypersurface at is a holomorphic function on a neighbourhood such that
The necessary local algebra is that the stalk is a regular local ring, hence a unique factorization domain, and that the local branches of a hypersurface germ determine finitely many height-one prime ideals. Each is principal; the product of their generators gives , and removing repeated factors makes it reduced. This also covers a globally irreducible hypersurface that has several local branches at a singular point.
A divisor on a complex manifold is a locally finite formal sum of irreducible analytic hypersurfaces with integer coefficients. On a sufficiently small , local defining functions give a meromorphic equation for . The quotients are nowhere-zero holomorphic functions. Gluing frames by
produces the holomorphic line bundle associated to a divisor , and gives its canonical meromorphic section with divisor .
The Euler sequence on complex projective space
implies . Taking the dual determinant yields the canonical bundle of complex projective space
where is a hyperplane divisor.
The hypotheses on the homogeneous polynomial say that
is a smooth projective hypersurface of degree , so its divisor line bundle is . The Adjunction formula gives
This is the canonical bundle of a smooth projective hypersurface.
Now fix an isomorphism and regard and as holomorphic sections of the same holomorphic line bundle. They have no common zero because . Their homogeneous coordinates therefore define a well-defined holomorphic map
In a local frame, the quotient
is a meromorphic function with divisor . Thus and , both with multiplicity one. The degree of a holomorphic map is therefore one. A nonconstant degree-one holomorphic map between compact connected Riemann surfaces is a biholomorphism, so the displayed map is biholomorphic.
If is a nonconstant holomorphic map between compact connected Riemann surfaces, its local degree at is the integer for which suitable local coordinates give
The valency theorem states that
is independent of . This common value is the degree of a holomorphic map, denoted .
Now let be a nonconstant rational function of degree . If its distinct finite poles have orders , and its pole order at infinity is , then
The derivative has a pole of order at each finite pole. When , the expansion shows that at infinity. Hence the degree of the derivative of a rational function is
In the first case , while in the second ; therefore
For every , the lower bound is attained by , whose derivative has degree (with a constant assigned degree zero). For distinct , the function
has simple poles, degree , and a derivative with double poles, so . Thus both rational bounds are sharp for every .
Let next be a nonconstant elliptic function for the period lattice . Its degree is the total order of its poles in a fundamental parallelogram; by the valency theorem, this is also the degree of the induced map . If these poles have orders , then , and has poles of orders . The degree of the derivative of an elliptic function is consequently
Since every nonconstant elliptic function has at least one pole and ,
Let be odd. The Weierstrass elliptic function supplies the lower-bound example
It has one pole modulo , of order , so its derivative has one pole of order . For the upper bound, choose distinct points modulo and nonzero constants with . The quasi-periodicity of the Weierstrass zeta function makes
elliptic. It has exactly simple poles, while has double poles. Therefore the two bounds are attained for every required odd degree.