Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2015 / ii / Paper 2 / 11B (Further Complex Methods)

For $\mathrm{Re}s>1$, expand $(e^t-1{)}^{-1}={\sum }_{n\ge 1}{e}^{-nt}$. Absolute convergence of the integrated series follows from the same expression with $\mathrm{Re}s$ in place of $s$. Integrating termwise and substituting $u=nt$ givesThis proves the Mellin transform representation of the Riemann zeta function.

Take the Hankel contour along the lower side of the negative axis towards zero, around zero counterclockwise, and back along the upper side. For $\mathrm{Re}s>1$ the small-circle contribution tends to zero. On the lower and upper rays, respectively, $\arg t=-\pi ,+\pi$, so the two integrals combine toThe gamma reflection formula now proves agreement of the two representations. At an integer $s=m\ge 2$, the contour integral has a zero while $\Gamma (1-s)$ has a pole: their product is interpreted by its finite limit, equal to $\zeta (m)$, not by multiplying literal zero and infinity.

For nonpositive integers the integrand is single-valued, and the contour closes around zero. Sincethe residue of $t^{-1}/(e^{-t}-1)$ is $-1/2$, giving $\zeta (0)=-1/2$. Alsois odd. Its Laurent series therefore has only odd powers. Multiplication by $t^{-2n-1}$ cannot produce a $t^{-1}$ term, and the subtracted constant cannot do so when $n\ge 1$. Hence the contour integral vanishes and $\zeta (-2n)=0$ for every positive integer $n$.