Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ii Paper 2 23H Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A divisor on a compact connected Riemann surface is a finite formal sum with integer coefficients; its degree is . A canonical divisor is the divisor of zeros and poles of a nonzero meromorphic differential. Two divisors are linearly equivalent when their difference is the divisor of a nonzero meromorphic function. Such principal divisors have degree zero, but equal degree does not generally imply linear equivalence of divisors.
For example take distinct points on a genus-one surface. If were principal, its function would define a degree-one meromorphic map to the sphere, since it has just one simple pole. A degree-one map between compact Riemann surfaces is a biholomorphism, contradicting their different genera. Thus these degree-one divisors are not equivalent.
Define and . The Riemann-Roch theorem statesSince all holomorphic functions on the compact surface are constant, . Setting gives . Multiplication by a fixed meromorphic differential identifies with holomorphic differentials, so their dimension is . Setting then givesFor , choose a nonzero holomorphic differential, whose effective canonical divisor has degree two. Since , contains a nonconstant meromorphic function. Its pole divisor is bounded by that effective , proving existence of a nonconstant function with total pole multiplicity at most two.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 11 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
On any compact set avoiding the integers, writeFor all sufficiently large , uniformly on that compact set this is . The summands in the higher series are for . The Weierstrass M-test therefore gives locally uniform convergence away from the integer poles and permits termwise differentiation. Near an integer , isolate its singular summand; all the others converge uniformly on a small neighborhood. Thus the first function has a simple pole of residue one at each integer, and the th function has a pole of order there with principal part . There are no other singularities, so all are meromorphic functions.
Pairing positive and negative indices is legitimate because the regularized first series converges absolutely. It becomesHere is a direct derivation of its cotangent partial-fraction expansion. Fix and integrate around the square with real and imaginary coordinates , , taking large enough to enclose . On the vertical sides , and on the horizontal sides it is at most . Thus the cotangent is uniformly bounded and , so the contour integral is .
The residues at integers are ; the two residues at and sum to . The residue theorem and absolute convergence of the integer residue sum consequently giveUsing the exponential definitions of sine and cosine now yields, for ,The same locally uniform convergence gives , including . Hence if , the chain rule givesThis is a rational function whenever is, proving the requested descent for every by induction, withIn particular periodicity is a consequence of the explicit descent, rather than an assumption about the summation order.
Finally, for expand each paired summand as a geometric series:On the double series converges absolutely, since its absolute sum is at most . Interchanging the sums and using the Riemann zeta function gives the Laurent seriesThus the coefficient is one; the positive odd coefficients are , and all other coefficients vanish.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 19 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
An irreducible complex analytic hypersurface is a closed analytic subset of pure complex codimension one which cannot be expressed as the union of two proper closed analytic subsets. Here a local defining function of a complex analytic hypersurface means a reduced local equation: a holomorphic germ generating its vanishing ideal, with each local branch occurring once. The word reduced matters. Merely prescribing the zero set would allow both and , and the requested uniqueness would then be false.
The local facts used are these: in holomorphic coordinates the local ring is , a regular local ring and a unique factorization domain; its units are exactly the germs nonzero at ; and the analytic Nullstellensatz identifies the zero-set ideal of a germ with . A reduced germ is a product of distinct irreducible factors. Unique factorization makes its principal ideal radical: if , every irreducible factor of divides , so . Thus two reduced germs with the same hypersurface germ have . Write , . The local ring is a domain, so . Hence is a holomorphic unit and . This proves reduced local defining functions differ by a holomorphic unit. Global irreducibility does not imply local irreducibility at a singular point; the same argument uses the product of all local branches and therefore covers that case too.
A divisor on a complex manifold is a locally finite integer combination of irreducible analytic hypersurfaces. On a compact manifold only finitely many have nonzero coefficients. Choose local meromorphic equations for a divisor , by products of powers of reduced local equations. Their ratios are holomorphic units on overlaps. For the holomorphic line bundle associated to a divisor, choose frames satisfyingThe ratios obey the cocycle identity and so define a holomorphic line bundle . This convention makes the local meromorphic sections agree, with divisor . Changing the equations by units changes frames and gives an isomorphic bundle.
For hyperplanes in Complex projective space, choose nonzero linear equations . The degree-zero quotient is a global meromorphic function and has divisor . A principal divisor on a complex manifold gives a trivial associated bundle: using the same global meromorphic equation on every chart makes all frame transitions equal to one. The allowed tensor-product rule now givesIf the hyperplanes coincide the same conclusion is immediate. Equivalently, their common bundle is the hyperplane bundle .
Locally at the centre of a blowup of a complex manifold at a point, replace a coordinate neighbourhood in byAway from zero the direction is uniquely , so this map is an isomorphism there; glue it to . In the chart , write and for . These are smooth holomorphic coordinates on the blowup. The exceptional divisor is , globally .
The canonical bundle formula for a point blowup isThe local chart also explains the exponent: pulling back a coordinate volume form gives , so the Jacobian section has divisor .
Since is smooth at the centre, choose coordinates with . Its strict transform is a genuine analytic hypersurface. In a blowup chart , it is the closed set : off , the original equation reduces to , and taking the closure restores the points with . In chart , there are no such off-exceptional points, and the strict transform is empty there. These descriptions agree on overlaps and show analyticity, with . The total transform has the extra factor exactly once, soUnder the given anticanonical assumption, this yieldsTo prove the only-if direction, one must rule out an accidental trivial power of . The local blowup is the tautological line bundle over , with its zero section. Its normal bundle is therefore . The normal bundle of a smooth analytic hypersurface identifies with this bundle. If , restrict to a projective line inside ; the restriction of has degree . A trivial line bundle has degree zero, so it is trivial only if . Conversely the displayed tensor factor is literally trivial when . This is the anticanonical strict transform under a point blowup criterion:For completeness, dimension one cannot satisfy the premise in this compact setting: an irreducible analytic hypersurface is one point, and has degree on its curve component, whereas has degree . Thus no exceptional dimension-one case invalidates the equivalence.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ii Paper 2 23G a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
An elliptic function for a lattice is a meromorphic function on satisfying for all . Its order is the number of poles, counted with multiplicity, in a fundamental parallelogram, equivalently the degree of its map from the torus to the Riemann sphere. Differentiation preserves the periods. If the distinct poles have orders , the derivative has exactly the same pole locations with orders . ThereforeThe bounds use , valid for a nonconstant elliptic function.
For the Weierstrass elliptic function , has a single pole of order five, so its derivative has order six. For the second example choose not a critical value of and choose away from zero and the two points where . Thenhas a double pole at and three simple poles: the quotient has residue at zero and residue 1 at each of its two other poles. No locations overlap. Hence its order is five and its derivative has order , as required.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2011 ii Paper 3 8E Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The numbers are the nonzero zeros of a function , repeated according to their multiplicity. The displayed Weierstrass factorization theorem formula uses genus-one Weierstrass elementary factors and a linear exponential factor; it applies under the corresponding growth assumptions, rather than to every arbitrary entire function.
Apply it to the entire function , with its removable value . Its zeros are , each simple, and because is even. Pairing the factors at and givessoThe product converges uniformly on compact subsets because . Away from the integers its logarithmic derivative can be taken term by term: the resulting series also converges locally uniformly, its terms being . HenceThis is an identity of meromorphic functions, understood away from their poles.
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.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 29 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For , define the Riemann zeta function by the absolutely convergent Dirichlet seriesThe Euler product follows from unique prime factorization and absolute convergence. The counting-function integral givesBecause the fractional part is bounded, the last integral, and its derivatives with respect to on compact subsets, converge uniformly for . It is a holomorphic function there. This proves the Meromorphic continuation of the Riemann zeta function to the right half-plane, with a simple pole at one of residue one and no other singularity in that half-plane.
The Gamma function isThe Gamma function recurrence extends it meromorphically; its poles are at the nonpositive integers and it has no zeros. The functional equation of the Riemann zeta function can be stated asor, equivalently,These are identities of meromorphic functions; the second also extends the Riemann zeta function to the remaining half-plane. The critical strip is ; its boundary lines will also be treated below, rather than included among possible exceptional zeros.
For , the absolutely convergent reciprocal Euler product gives . For , the factors , , and in the second functional equation of the Riemann zeta function are finite and nonzero. Hence the only zeros there are the zeros of the sine factor:Each is simple. At zero, the sine zero cancels the pole of ; using its residue one gives , not zero. Nonvanishing on the rest of follows from the boundary-line proof below and the functional equation of the Riemann zeta function. Together these facts prove that the trivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function are the only zeros outside the open critical strip.
Here is a Jensen disk proof of the zeta zero-count bound which avoids any unproved left-half-plane growth estimate. Set , a holomorphic function throughout , including at one. The integral continuation formula givesFor each integer , apply Jensen's formula in the disk with centre , outer radius and inner radius . The outer disk stays in , so its maximum modulus is . At its centre,since . Therefore the number of zeros in its inner disk, counted with multiplicity, is at mostThe rectangle , fits in the inner disk because its farthest point has distance . Summing over such disks counts zeros in the right half of the critical strip up to height . The first functional equation of the Riemann zeta function bijects zeros, with multiplicities, in the left half with their reflections in the right half; its Gamma function factors are finite and nonzero in the strip. ThusThe pole of zeta function at one does not count as a zero: .
Finally, for real and , the Euler-product logarithms and the nonnegative trigonometric polynomialgive the three-four-one product proof of zeta boundary nonvanishing:If had a zero of order , its factor would be as . The real zeta function factor has pole order three, and the factor at stays bounded because . The product would tend to zero as , contradicting that it is at least one. ThereforeAt there is a pole, not a zero. Applying the sine-form functional equation of the Riemann zeta function at now proves nonvanishing on the remaining imaginary axis, completing the earlier assertion about all zeros outside the critical strip.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 23 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The weights of and agree, so their ratio is invariant under the modular group. Nonvanishing of the modular discriminant on the half-plane makes the ratio holomorphic there. At an elliptic point, an invariant holomorphic function has a power series in the quotient coordinate, so the ratio descends holomorphically. At the unique modular cusp its expansion isThus it is a meromorphic function on the compact Riemann surface with precisely one pole, of order one. The degree of a nonconstant meromorphic map to the sphere equals its total pole order. It therefore has degree one, hence is a biholomorphism:This is the single-pole criterion for a spherical coordinate.
The matrix fixes . Weight-four transformation gives , and . Hence and . Since is a degree-one coordinate, this is a simple zero on the quotient surface. Pulled back to the half-plane it has order three, by the analytic ramification index in part (a).
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 23 1 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
View as a meromorphic function on , using its coordinate . At the infinity modular cusp its pole order is one. At the zero modular cusp, , so its pole order is two. Part (c) identifies these poles with and .
The zero of on the full modular curve lies at its order-three elliptic point. There are no effective order-three stabilizers in : their lifts have trace , whose characteristic polynomial modulo two is , whereas an upper triangular matrix over has both diagonal entries one. Therefore the degree-three covering has exactly one point over that elliptic point, with analytic ramification index three. Its -coordinate is , and the zero divisor of the pulled-back is .
A rational function with these zeros and poles must be . At the infinity modular cusp both and have leading coefficient one times , giving . HenceThe proof fixes the coefficient and the powers using modular cusp cusp widths and elliptic ramification, rather than assuming a formula for the level-two coordinate.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 23 3 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The effective group is torsion free and every modular cusp is regular in the preceding sense, so orders of a meromorphic weight- form are integers. At interior points use a local automorphy trivialization; at a modular cusp use the Fourier order of the appropriate slash transform in its cusp width coordinate. Let be the sum of all modular cusp points, each once, and setA meromorphic function belongs to the Riemann-Roch space exactly when . In the interior this requires to have no pole; at a modular cusp it requires order at least one. Conversely, the quotient of any weight- cusp form by is a meromorphic weight-zero function satisfying precisely those inequalities. This proves the cusp-form divisor presentationTo compute the degree without imposing a valence formula as an extra assumption, use the meromorphic tensor differential . Its automorphy factors cancel. Its order at an interior point is ; at a modular cusp it is , since is a nonzero constant times . A meromorphic section of the th tensor power of the canonical bundle has total divisor degree . The regular-cusp valence formula on a torsion-free modular curve is thereforeFor , . The Riemann-Roch theorem says , and a divisor of negative degree has no nonzero sections. Thus andUsing and givesThe canonical-degree and Riemann-Roch facts used here are general results for compact Riemann surfaces, as permitted.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 3 19F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
On the complex torus , the Weierstrass elliptic function is a degree-two map to the Riemann sphere, and its fibres are the pairs , with coalescence at the four branch points. An even elliptic function is constant on every fibre, so away from those branch points it descends to a meromorphic function of .
The descent also holds at a branch point. At a half-period , evenness and periodicity give , so its local Laurent series uses only even powers of . Also is a local coordinate proportional to . At , use instead. Thus extends meromorphically across every branch point and infinity. Every meromorphic function on the Riemann sphere is a rational function, proving .
For a nonconstant rational function in coprime form, : a generic equation has that many roots on the sphere. Degrees of holomorphic maps multiply under composition. Hence the degree isConstant functions have degree zero. Degree two therefore occurs exactly when is a Möbius transformation:Conversely every such function is even, elliptic and of degree two.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 118 4 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let , the sheaf of meromorphic principal parts. Exactness of taking stalks givesChoose a holomorphic coordinate vanishing at . Every meromorphic germ has a finite negative tail in its Laurent series; the holomorphic tail vanishes in the quotient. HenceThis coordinate description is a vector-space identification; the intrinsic space is the quotient of germs, so a coordinate change need not preserve the displayed basis.
For each point inclusion , a principal part defines a local meromorphic germ near , whose quotient class is zero off . Gluing with zero on the complement gives a map from its skyscraper sheaf to . These maps induce an isomorphism on every stalk and therefore an isomorphism of sheaves:The direct sum of sheaves means the sheafification of the sectionwise direct-sum presheaf. Its sections can have infinitely many nonzero components globally, but their point supports form a locally finite family of subsets. This matches the fact that poles of a meromorphic function are locally finite. On a compact Riemann surface only finitely many points can occur; on a noncompact one a discrete infinite family is allowed.
For a global principal-part family , choose local meromorphic lifts on a sufficiently small open cover. The differences are holomorphic functions and form a Čech cocycle. The connecting homomorphism sends to the resulting class in . If this class vanishes, after refining the cover write ; then the functions glue to a global meromorphic function. Conversely any global lift makes the class zero. Equivalently, exactness of the given long exact sequence in sheaf cohomology saysThe connecting class is the obstruction to the Mittag-Leffler problem on a Riemann surface. It rules on the specified poles and their finite negative Laurent tails, with no additional poles allowed. When a solution exists, any two solutions differ by a global holomorphic function.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 126 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Write the period lattice as , with real-linearly independent and . A meromorphic function is an elliptic function for this lattice if for every . If it has no poles, it is an entire function bounded on the closure of a fundamental parallelogram. Periodicity makes it bounded on all of , so the Liouville theorem proves that an elliptic function without poles is constant.
Here are the two contour identities needed for counting its zeros and their sum. Choose a positively oriented fundamental parallelogram whose boundary avoids all zeros and poles, and put . The argument principle givesbecause is periodic and opposite edges cancel. Here count zeros and poles with multiplicity. For the weighted integral, let be the integral of along the edge from a vertex to . Translating the opposite edges givesThe endpoint values of agree along either edge. A continuous logarithm along the edge therefore changes by , with , and . On the other hand, the residue theorem evaluates the left side as the sum of the zero positions minus the sum of the pole positions, both with multiplicity. Thus the elliptic divisor-sum identity isUnder the stated pole hypothesis there is just one pole class, represented by zero, of order . ConsequentlyChanging representatives of the zero classes changes their weighted sum by an element of , so the congruence is well defined.
The Weierstrass elliptic function isOn a bounded set of , the summand is for large . The lattice sum of converges in real dimension two, proving Normal convergence of the Weierstrass elliptic-function series on compact sets away from . Hence is a holomorphic function there, and at zero its principal part is , so it has a double pole. Replacing by shows that is even. Differentiating the normally convergent series giveswhose absolute convergence permits reindexing by any . Thus is periodic and is constant. Substituting for and using evenness changes that constant to its negative, so it is zero. This proves that is an elliptic function, with double poles precisely at the lattice points.
The preceding zero count applied to says that it has exactly two zeros modulo , counted with multiplicity. Evenness pairs any zero with . If these are distinct classes they must both be simple. If they coincide, , and locally : the zero has even order, which the total count forces to be two. In particular such a zero cannot be a lattice point, where has a pole. Every finite fibre of the Weierstrass function consists of two opposite simple points or one double nonzero half-period point.
To obtain the rational representation, first consider an even elliptic function . The preceding description proves that has exactly the fibres , so defines a function of . Away from the branch values a local inverse of makes meromorphic. At a half-period , the local expansion is , with because the zero has order exactly two. The Laurent series of contains only even powers, and is a holomorphic local coordinate as a function of . Thus is meromorphic at that value too. At zero the same argument uses , proving meromorphy at infinity. A meromorphic function on the Riemann sphere is a rational function: subtract its finitely many principal parts and use compactness to make the remainder constant. This proves that even elliptic functions are rational in the Weierstrass function.
For an arbitrary elliptic function, split , where . The even part is . Since is odd and not identically zero, is an even meromorphic elliptic function, including at the zeros of where the quotient may have poles. It is therefore for a rational function . The elliptic function-field decomposition isThe representation is unique: its even and odd parts determine and , and takes every value on the Riemann sphere.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ib Paper 2 13A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The residue theorem states that a meromorphic function with finitely many poles inside a positively oriented simple closed contour and none on it satisfies . The function must be holomorphic on a neighbourhood of the contour and its interior away from those poles.
Write and . Both integrals converge absolutely. Use the principal complex logarithm in the upper half-plane, with , and an upper semicircle of radius indented above zero by a clockwise semicircle of radius . The branch values on the negative real side are upper limits; equivalently use contours arbitrarily slightly above that side before taking a limit.
For , the large arc is and the small arc is , so both vanish. On approached from above, and . The oriented negative segment therefore contributes , and the positive segment contributes . The only enclosed pole is , with residueConsequentlyComparing imaginary and real parts yields the upper-half-plane contour for square-root logarithmic integrals evaluation:
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 132 3 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use the closed genus version of Teichmüller's uniqueness theorem. Let be a Teichmüller map: for a nonzero holomorphic quadratic differential , normalized by , and ,The value at a zero of is irrelevant to the Beltrami coefficient, which is defined almost everywhere. For every quasiconformal map preserving orientation and homotopic to , the conclusion isThe normalized is also uniquely determined when .
We use the following analytic input, stated with its hypotheses. The Reich–Strebel inequality says that if has the displayed Beltrami coefficient and a competitor has the same target and homotopy class, then, for ,This is the standard fundamental inequality for an integrable holomorphic quadratic differential; it also holds on a finite-type punctured surface with the homotopy fixing the punctures. Its formulation is given in Gardiner and Hu, §5. We quote this analytic inequality as the lecture result used in the proof.
Put . Pointwise, away from the isolated zeros of ,Integrating against the probability density function proves . If , all these inequalities are equalities almost everywhere. The strictly increasing last function forces almost everywhere; equality in the triangle inequality then forces . ThereforeTwo quasiconformal maps with the same Beltrami coefficient differ by postcomposition with a biholomorphism, by the local chain rule for the Beltrami equation. Consequently is a biholomorphism from to itself homotopic to the identity.
For completeness, such a biholomorphism is the identity when . Apply the uniformization theorem and choose the lift of the homotopy to starting at the identity. Its endpoint lift commutes with every deck transformation. It is a real Möbius transformation. The compact quotient has no parabolic Möbius transformations in its deck group, and freeness excludes elliptic Möbius transformations. Two distinct hyperbolic axes exist: a discrete free group preserving just one axis would be cyclic, contradicting the fundamental group of a closed surface of genus at least two. Commutation with two deck transformations represented by hyperbolic Möbius transformations having distinct axes makes it fix their boundary endpoints individually; there are at least three such endpoints. A Möbius transformation fixing three points is the identity. Hence and .
If is another unit-area differential for the same map, then , so is positive real wherever defined. This meromorphic function is constant by the open mapping theorem, and normalization makes the constant one. Without normalization, positive multiples of describe the same map. At , uniqueness of the map still holds in genus at least two, but there is no distinguished . In genus one, translations supply nontrivial biholomorphisms homotopic to the identity, so equality determines the map only up to those biholomorphisms; the genus hypothesis cannot be omitted.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 137 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Use the Fourier transform normalization . A precise version of the Poisson summation formula is that, for every Schwartz function ,Both series have absolute convergence. Here being a Schwartz function means being smooth with for all nonnegative integers . This hypothesis makes the sums and the termwise operations below legitimate; the formula is not being asserted for arbitrary integrable functions.
Form the periodization of a Schwartz function . Every differentiated series has uniform convergence on , by rapid decay, so is a smooth periodic function of period one. Its th Fourier coefficient isThe interchange follows from absolute convergence uniformly on this interval. Integration by parts shows that these Fourier coefficients decrease faster than every inverse power of . Thus the Fourier series converges absolutely and uniformly to ; for example the standard convergence theorem for twice continuously differentiable periodic functions applies. Evaluating at zero proves the Poisson summation formula.
For , scaling the given Gaussian Fourier transform givesApplying the Poisson summation formula gives the real-parameter Jacobi theta function transformation
For , termwise application of the Mellin transform is justified by integrating absolute values and givesEach positive contributes , and the factor one half removes the equal positive and negative terms. This is the Mellin representation of the completed Riemann zeta function.
Split the integral at one. On , the Jacobi theta function transformation writes . Integrating the first two terms and substituting in the third yields the pole-subtracted theta integral for the completed zeta function:The remaining integral is an entire function of : , and on each compact set of this exponential dominates all powers of and all factors arising from differentiation. It therefore supplies a meromorphic continuation of to the whole plane, with simple poles at one and zero, of residues and , respectively. Its expression is unchanged by .
The reciprocal Gamma function is entire, with simple zeros at its nonpositive integer arguments. Consequentlyis holomorphic everywhere except for a simple pole at , of residue one. The apparent pole at cancels; in fact gives . This proves the analytic continuation of the Riemann zeta function. The completed functional equation of the Riemann zeta function isThese are equalities of meromorphic functions; at apparent singularities they are interpreted by continuation. Equivalently, is an entire function with .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 306 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-20
Use a genus-zero Polyakov path integral, target signature and all four momenta incoming. Define the Mandelstam variables by , , . The string mass-shell condition is and momentum conservation is , soThe reduced amplitude omits the overall momentum-conservation Dirac delta distribution and any conventional overall scattering-matrix phase. Interpret each tachyon vertex operator as normal ordered; self-contractions must not be included.
The free-boson worldsheet propagator is . Wick theorem then evaluates the normal-ordered exponential correlator as the Koba-Nielsen factorThe worldsheet zero mode supplies momentum conservation. Four vertices give and the sphere contributes through the string genus expansion, leaving .
The sphere's residual Möbius transformations fix three insertion points. In sphere gauge fixing for four string vertices, take . The worldsheet ghost fields, equivalently the Faddeev-Popov determinant for this residual group, supply . At finite , this determinant grows as , while the matter correlator decays as by momentum conservation and the tachyon mass shell; their product has a finite limit. Equivalently the weight- matter operator at infinity is normalized with , while the ghost pair uses the inverse factor. After stripping the fixed-position normalization, onlyremains. Here choose the standard complex-coordinate measure . With instead, the reduced normalization must acquire a factor two to give the same requested amplitude. Absolute vertex/sphere normalization is a convention; this choice fixes it consistently with the displayed prefactor.
Set , , . Then and the integrand is . To evaluate the complex beta integral first work where . This ensures convergence near , and infinity. Set and . Schwinger parameterization givesCompleting the square, the Gaussian integral is . Change variables to and ; their Jacobian determinant is . Integrating gives . The remaining integral is the ordinary beta function . ThusRestoring and substituting the Mandelstam variables proves the Virasoro–Shapiro amplitude:For physical scattering the original position integral generally fails to converge. The formula defines the amplitude by analytic continuation from the convergence domain, with the desired scattering boundary value at real poles; the convergent integral should not be claimed valid for every physical momentum.
The gamma function is a meromorphic function, with simple poles at nonpositive integers and no zeros, while its reciprocal is an entire function. Consequently it is a meromorphic function of the independent invariants and a crossing-symmetric scattering amplitude: permuting leaves it unchanged. Its generic channel poles areand the same tower in and . They represent the exchanged bosonic string mass spectrum: the tachyon, massless states including the graviton, and an infinite sequence of massive closed-string levels. There are no threshold branch cuts at this tree order.
A precise check of factorization is the Virasoro–Shapiro amplitude pole residue. Near , set in the nonsingular factor. The gamma function recurrence givesCombining this with showsThe residue is a degree- polynomial in , consistent with exchange up to spin and scattering-amplitude factorization. At exceptional kinematics reciprocal Gamma zeros can remove apparent poles. In particular, when both and approach nonpositive integers, the zero from cancels the putative double pole, leaving channel simple-pole terms. Thus one must not count products of numerator poles without using .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 2 21F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
By the argument principle, the number of zeros minus poles, counted with multiplicity, in the fundamental parallelogram is . The logarithmic derivative is periodic with the same lattice, so the integrals over opposite sides cancel. Thus the numbers of zeros and poles are equal.
The Weierstrass elliptic function gives a degree-two map whose fibers identify and . An even elliptic function is constant on these fibers, so it descends to a single-valued function on the sphere. This is meromorphic even at a branch value: near a half-period the involution is , the Laurent series of has only even powers, and has a double zero and provides a local coordinate in . At the image of , gives the same conclusion at infinity. A meromorphic function on the Riemann sphere is a rational function, so .
A meromorphic antiderivative need not be elliptic. Take . Its double poles have zero residue, so integrating on the punctured plane gives a single-valued primitive, since every closed-contour integral is a sum of zero residues. The primitive extends meromorphically over each pole, with local principal part . If were elliptic, it would have precisely one pole modulo the lattice, with residue , contradicting the zero sum of residues in a fundamental parallelogram. This is a nonconstant counterexample satisfying the stated premise; the preceding descent proves that even elliptic functions are rational in the Weierstrass function.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 2 7E Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The given Euler product for the gamma function has the finite approximantsaway from the poles. Split the denominator of into even and odd factors. The resulting exact identity isThe right side does not depend on , so its limit is a constant . Evaluate the ratio at : , and the gamma reflection formula, together with positivity on the positive real axis, gives . HenceThis is the gamma duplication formula. The argument first applies where the factors are finite; the identity then holds as an identity of meromorphic functions, with values at poles interpreted accordingly.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 137 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The Mellin transform iswhere this integral converges. Rapid decay at infinity makes the integral over an entire function of , but alone gives no control near zero. With the additional expansion, the integral initially converges absolutely for .
For , expand . Absolute convergence justifies termwise integration, using the Gamma integral, and gives the scaled Bose integral
There is a missing hypothesis in the general continuation claim: one needs . The original PDF, like the TeX, only says that the sequence increases. Under the intended additional hypothesis, split the integral at one and subtract terms of the asymptotic expansion:Continuity of at zero makes it bounded on . The last integral is holomorphic on : on every compact subset, its integrand and all its derivatives are dominated by an integrable power of times a power of . The expressions for successive agree on their common initial domain and hence everywhere they overlap by the identity theorem. As , these half-planes cover . Taking with isolates the term , while all other terms are holomorphic near . Thus the corrected claim isThis is meromorphic continuation of a Mellin transform from an asymptotic expansion.
To show why the correction matters, set , , andwhere is continuous, equals one for and vanishes for . On , the remainder after division by is a uniformly convergent series of nonnegative powers of , so it extends continuously to zero with value . Away from zero, define by the required remainder quotient; it is continuous on the rest of as well. Thus all the printed hypotheses hold. Its Mellin transform equalsThe series continues meromorphically on and has genuine poles at , accumulating at . A meromorphic function on cannot have such an accumulation of poles. This is the accumulating asymptotic exponents obstruct Mellin continuation counterexample.
For the Gamma function, the Gamma function recurrence givesAt the numerator is and the product of the nonzero denominator factors is . Therefore the residues of the Gamma function are
The generating function of the Bernoulli numbers gives the convergent expansion near zeroThe subtraction proof above applies to this expansion, including its zero coefficients, which give no pole. At , for , the residue of its transform is , while the residue of is . Their quotient defines a holomorphic continuation of the Riemann zeta function at this point, including when the first residue is zero. Dividing gives the Bernoulli formula for zeta values at nonpositive integers:In particular the generating-series convention is , so the formula includes .