NPTEL web course

on
Complex Analysis

A. Swaminathan
I.I.T. Roorkee, India
and
V.K. Katiyar
I.I.T. Roorkee, India

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Complex Analysis

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Complex Analysis

Module: 2: Functions of a Complex Variable

Lecture: 1: Topology of the Complex Plane

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Complex Analysis

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Complex Analysis

Functions of a complex variable

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Complex Analysis

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Functions of a complex variable

Topological properties

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Complex Analysis

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Preliminaries

Topological properties of C
Analogues to R2 (a metric space with usual distance metric), C also
has many topological properties similar. We list some of them.

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Topological properties

Neighbourhood
Let z0 be a point in the complex plane. Then Neighbourhood of z0 is
defined as
n
o
N (z0 ) = z : |z z0 | < , for sufficiently small  > 0 .
This circular neighbourhood is called open unit disc. |z| < 1 is called
the open unit disc.

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Complex Analysis

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Neighbourhood

y
|z z0 |
z

z0

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Topological properties

Interior point
Let D be any subset of C. A point z0 is called interior point of D, if
there is some neighbourhood N (z0 ) which contains only points of D.

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Complex Analysis

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Topological properties

Interior point
Let D be any subset of C. A point z0 is called interior point of D, if
there is some neighbourhood N (z0 ) which contains only points of D.

Example
In the unit disc |z| < 1, the point z = 1/2 is interior point, since there is
a neighbourbood N1/4 (1/2) that contains only points of |z| < 1.

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Complex Analysis

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Topological properties

Boundary points
Let D be any subset of C. A point z0 is called boundary point of D, if
there is some neighbourhood N (z0 ) which contains points which are
in S and points not is D.

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Complex Analysis

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Topological properties

Boundary points
Let D be any subset of C. A point z0 is called boundary point of D, if
there is some neighbourhood N (z0 ) which contains points which are
in S and points not is D.

Example
The point z = i is boundary point of the unit disc |z| < 1. Because, any
small neighbourhood about z = 1 will contains points that are in
|z| < 1 and |z| > 1.

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Complex Analysis

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Topological properties

Open sets
If every point of D C is an interior point of D then D is called open
set.

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Complex Analysis

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Topological properties

Open sets
If every point of D C is an interior point of D then D is called open
set.

Example
The unit disc |z| < 1 is an open set.

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Complex Analysis

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Topological properties

Closed set
A set is closed if it contains all its boundary points.

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Topological properties

Closed set
A set is closed if it contains all its boundary points.

Example
The closed unit disc |z| 1 is closed. The unit circle = {z : |z| = 1}
is closed.

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Complex Analysis

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Topological properties

Connected
An open set D is connected if every pair of points z1 and z2 in D can
be joined by polygonal path that lies entirely on D. In other words, D is
connected, if D cannot be vizualized as union of two disjoint open sets.

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Complex Analysis

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Topological properties

Connected
An open set D is connected if every pair of points z1 and z2 in D can
be joined by polygonal path that lies entirely on D. In other words, D is
connected, if D cannot be vizualized as union of two disjoint open sets.

Domain
An open connected set is called Domain. This definition of Domain is
different from the concept "domain of definition", which is where a
function is defined.

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Complex Analysis

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Topological properties

Simply Connected
A connected domain is said to be simply connected, if its complement
is connected. In other words, if the domain can be contracted to a
single point then it is simply connected.

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Complex Analysis

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Topological properties

Simply Connected
A connected domain is said to be simply connected, if its complement
is connected. In other words, if the domain can be contracted to a
single point then it is simply connected.

Note
This concept "simply connected" is different from the concept of
"connectedness".
These two concepts are not the same.

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Complex Analysis

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Simply Connected

Example
The unit disc D = {z : |z| < 1} is both connected and simply
connected. In fact, any open disc of the form
Dr = {z : |z| < r }
is connected and simply connected (D1 = D).

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Complex Analysis

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Simply Connected

Example
The unit disc D = {z : |z| < 1} is both connected and simply
connected. In fact, any open disc of the form
Dr = {z : |z| < r }
is connected and simply connected (D1 = D).
The punctured disc D = {z : 0 < |z| < r } is connected but not
simply connected. In fact, any annular region
D = {z : R1 < |z| < R2 } is connected, not simply connected.

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Functions of a complex variable

Examples of complex domains

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Examples of complex domains

Figure : Unit disc

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Examples of complex domains

Figure : Unit disc

The unit disc D := {z : |z| < 1}.

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Examples of complex domains

Figure : Right half plane

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Examples of complex domains

Figure : Right half plane

The right half plane H + := {z : Re z > 0}.

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Examples of complex domains

y
6


Re z = Im z

.ia

.a

- x

Figure : The set {z = x + iy : y < x}.

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Complex Analysis

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Examples of complex domains

y
6


Re z = Im z

.ia

.a

- x

Figure : The set {z = x + iy : y < x}.

The domain given by

{z C : |Im z| < |Re z| }.
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Example of a non-domain
y 







6













































































































- x
















(a,
0)
(a,
0)




















































































































. .

Figure : The set A1

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Example of a non-domain
y 







6













































































































- x
















(a,
0)
(a,
0)




















































































































. .

Figure : The set A1

The domain
A1 = {z C : |Re z| a, for some a > 0}
lies between two parallel lines Re z = a and Re z = a is not
connected. But its complement is connected and open and hence the
complement of A1 is a domain.
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