Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2019 / Paper 1 / 11 / d / Solution

Take $r>0$ and select a complex argument $\theta$ for $z$. To specify the complex exponentiation, use $z^{1+i}=\exp ((1+i)(\ln r+i\theta ))$. Expanding its exponent givesIts complex logarithm therefore has valuesThe continuous logarithm obtained by retaining the displayed exponent uses $k=0$. If the outer logarithm is the principal logarithm, choose $k$ to put the imaginary part in $(-\pi ,\pi ]$ instead; the real part is unchanged. In particular one cannot generally assert $\mathrm{Log}(e^w)=w$ without checking its imaginary part.

The condition on the real part gives $\ln r=\theta$, so the required logarithmic spiral has polar coordinatesAs $\theta$ increases, it runs from the negative real axis near radius $e^{-\pi }$ through $-i{e}^{-\pi /2}$, $1$ and $i{e}^{\pi /2}$ to the negative real axis at radius $e^{\pi }$. The angle increases by one complete turn. Using the conventional principal argument $-\pi <\theta \le \pi$, the inner negative-axis endpoint is excluded and the outer endpoint is included. The convention $-\pi \le \theta <\pi$ reverses those endpoint choices. If both limiting arguments are admitted by the paper's wording, both limiting endpoints are drawn; the interior curve is the same. The origin is never included because the complex logarithm is undefined there.