Log modulus has no global harmonic conjugate on the punctured plane Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
The function is harmonic on the punctured complex plane, but it is not globally the real part of a holomorphic function there. Such a function would have derivative , whose integral around the unit circle is , whereas the integral of a derivative around a closed curve is zero.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 ii Paper 1 24F b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
If for a holomorphic function , the calculation from part (a) would giveThe integral of a derivative around a closed curve is zero, whereas the residue theorem givesThis contradiction proves that no such exists. It is precisely the log modulus has no global harmonic conjugate on the punctured plane obstruction.