There are logarithmic branch points at and infinity. At zero, every local branch has , so division by gives a pole of order two at zero. Decay at infinity does not remove its branching: with , the function is , which changes branch when encircles zero.
A branch point obstructs a single-valued analytic continuation around a closed circuit. Continuing once around zero increases its value by . A branch cut removes a curve joining branch points or extending to infinity so that a continuous argument can be chosen on the remainder. Zero and infinity are logarithmic branch points; the positive-axis cut used here selects . The cut is a choice of representation, not a line of poles of the multivalued logarithm.