Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / ii / Paper 2 / 21F / Solution

By the argument principle, the number of zeros minus poles, counted with multiplicity, in the fundamental parallelogram is $(2\pi i{)}^{-1}\oint f^{\prime }/fdz$. 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 $\wp :\mathbb{C}/\Lambda \to {\mathbb{P}}^1$ whose fibers identify $z$ and $-z$. An even elliptic function is constant on these fibers, so it descends to a single-valued function $Q$ on the sphere. This is meromorphic even at a branch value: near a half-period the involution is $t\mapsto -t$, the Laurent series of $f$ has only even powers, and $\wp -{\wp }_0$ has a double zero and provides a local coordinate in $t^2$. At the image of $0$, $\wp \sim t^{-2}$ gives the same conclusion at infinity. A meromorphic function on the Riemann sphere is a rational function, so $\boxed{f=Q(\wp )}$.

A meromorphic antiderivative need not be elliptic. Take $f=\wp$. 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 $-1/z$. If $F$ were elliptic, it would have precisely one pole modulo the lattice, with residue $-1$, 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.