Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2021 / ii / Paper 1 / 24F / d

Since $\mathbb{C}$ is simply connected, writefor an entire function $f$. If $u$ were bounded above, thenwould be bounded, so the Liouville theorem would make $e^f$ constant. Its derivative $f^{\prime }{e}^f$ would then vanish, whence $f$ and $u$ would be constant. Applying the same argument to $e^{-f}$ rules out a lower bound. Thus a nonconstant $u$ is unbounded both above and below.

Given any $c\in \mathbb{R}$, choose $z_{-},z_{+}\in \mathbb{C}$ withThe restriction of $u$ to the line segment from $z_{-}$ to $z_{+}$ is continuous, so the intermediate value theorem supplies a point on that segment where $u=c$. ThereforeThis proves the surjectivity of a nonconstant entire harmonic function.