Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 27 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Write and , with the lattice sums taken over nonzero lattice elements. Reindexing the normally convergent series shows that the Weierstrass elliptic function is an even function, and consequently is an odd function. Expanding near zero and cancelling the odd lattice sums gives the Laurent coefficients of the Weierstrass elliptic functionThus the elliptic function has no pole at zero and its constant term is . By periodicity it has no poles anywhere. An entire elliptic function is bounded on a fundamental parallelogram and hence everywhere, so Liouville theorem makes it constant. This proves the Weierstrass elliptic differential equation
We first verify that the cubic is smooth, rather than presupposing it when using its group law. There are three nonzero two-torsion points of a complex torus . Oddness and periodicity imply . Since has a triple pole and no other poles on the torus, value multiplicity of an elliptic function says that these three distinct zeros exhaust its zeros and are simple. Put . Each has a double zero at , since and the zero of is simple. If with , this same function would have at least four zeros counted with multiplicity, although its only pole is double. Therefore the half-period values of the Weierstrass elliptic function are distinct. They are roots of , so all its roots are distinct and the affine curve is a smooth algebraic curve. Its projective closure isIt has the single point at infinity. The derivative with respect to of the defining homogeneous polynomial is nonzero at , proving smoothness there too.
For any finite value , value multiplicity of an elliptic function gives exactly two solutions of , counting multiplicities. Evenness supplies the pair . At a nonzero half-period these coincide and the zero is double; elsewhere they are distinct. An even elliptic function therefore descends to a meromorphic function of on the Riemann sphere. To justify descent at a half-period, put : both and are even in , and is times a nonvanishing even analytic function. The local Laurent series of is consequently meromorphic in the coordinate . At zero the same argument uses . Every meromorphic function on the Riemann sphere is a rational function, proving that even elliptic functions are rational in the Weierstrass function.
For an arbitrary elliptic function , its even part is . Its odd part divided by is an even meromorphic function, hence is with rational. We have therefore proved the elliptic function-field decompositionUniqueness follows by taking even and odd parts. In particular the field of elliptic functions is .
Define and elsewhere on . Periodicity makes the map well defined. Near zero, the projective chart has coordinates and , so the extension is holomorphic. The fiber description above proves injectivity: the two candidates are distinguished by unless they coincide at a half-period. It also proves surjectivity, since every occurs and the two derivatives are the two allowed values, with at a branch value.
Finally, a nonvertical line pulls back to the elliptic function , whose only pole is triple at zero. Its three zeros , counted with intersection multiplicity, satisfy modulo by the zero-pole sum of an elliptic function. On the cubic, reflection corresponds to . The chord-and-tangent group law therefore gives . Vertical lines give inverse pairs; tangencies are included through repeated zeros, and the identity cases follow from the extension at zero. This completes the Weierstrass uniformization by half-period values: is a group isomorphism.
The Weierstrass elliptic function and its derivative give an isomorphism from a one-dimensional complex torus to a smooth plane cubic, with sent to its identity at infinity. The three nonzero two-torsion points of a complex torus are zeros of . Its triple pole implies that these three zeros are simple. If two half-period values of the Weierstrass elliptic function coincided, would have at least four zeros counted with multiplicity, contradicting its double pole. The three cubic roots are therefore distinct, proving smoothness of an algebraic variety. The degree-two map has fibers , distinguished by away from the half-periods, proving bijectivity. A line pulls back to an elliptic function with a triple pole, and the zero-pole sum of an elliptic function says that its three intersections sum to zero on the torus. This gives exactly the chord-and-tangent group law, including repeated intersections interpreted by intersection multiplicity.