In complex analysis, a meromorphic function on an open subset D of the complex plane is a function that is holomorphic on all D except a set of isolated points, which are poles for the function. (The terminology comes from the Ancient Greek “meros” (μέρος), meaning part, as opposed to “holos” (ὅλος), meaning whole.) Such functions are sometimes said to be regular functions or regular on D.

Every meromorphic function on D can be expressed as the ratio between two holomorphic functions (with the denominator not constant 0) defined on D: the poles then occur at the zeroes of the denominator.

Intuitively then, a meromorphic function is a ratio of two nice (holomorphic) functions. Such a function will still be "nice", except at the points where the denominator of the fraction is zero, when the value of the function will be infinite.

From an algebraic point of view, if D is connected, then the set of meromorphic functions is the field of fractions of the integral domain of the set of holomorphic functions. That is an analogue to $\backslash mathbb\{Q\}$ and $\backslash mathbb\{Z\}$.

Examples

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• All rational functions such as

f(z) = (z³ − 2z + 1)/(z⁵ + 3z − 1)

are meromorphic on the whole complex plane.

• The functions

f(z) = exp(z)/z and f(z) = sin(z)/(z − 1)²

as well as the gamma function and the Riemann zeta function are meromorphic on the whole complex plane.

• The function

f(z) = exp(1/z)

is defined in the whole complex plane except for the origin, 0. However, 0 is not a pole of this function, rather an essential singularity. Thus, this function is not meromorphic in the whole complex plane. However, it is meromorphic (even holomorphic) on C\{0}.

• The function f(z) = ln(z) is not meromorphic on the whole complex plane, as it cannot be defined on the whole complex plane except an isolated set of points.

Properties

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Since the poles of a meromorphic function are isolated, they are at most countably many. The set of poles can be infinite, as exemplified by the function

f(z)=1/sin(z).

By using analytic continuation to eliminate removable singularities, meromorphic functions can be added, subtracted, multiplied, and the quotient f/g can be formed unless g(z) = 0 on a connected component of D. Thus, if D is connected, the meromorphic functions form a field, in fact a field extension of the complex numbers.

Meromorphic functions on Riemann surfaces

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On a Riemann surface every point admits an open neighborhood which is isomorphic to an open subset of the complex plane. Thereby the notion of a meromorphic function can be defined for every Riemann surface.

When D is the entire Riemann sphere, the field of meromorphic functions is simply the field of rational functions in one variable over the complex field, since one can prove that any meromorphic function on the sphere is rational. (This is a special case of the so-called GAGA principle.)

For every Riemann surface, a meromorphic function is the same as a holomorphic function that maps to the Riemann sphere and which is not constant ∞. The poles correspond to those complex numbers which are mapped to ∞.

On a non-compact Riemann surface every meromorphic function can be realized as a quotient of two (globally defined) holomorphic functions. In contrast, on a compact Riemann surface every holomorphic function is constant, while there always exist non-constant meromorphic functions.

Meromorphic functions on an elliptic curve are also known as elliptic functions.

Higher dimensions

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In several complex variables, a meromorphic function is defined to be locally a quotient of two holomorphic functions. For example, f(z₁,z₂)=z₁/z₂ is a meromorphic function on the two-dimensional complex affine space. Here it is no longer true that every meromorphic function can be regarded as holomorphic function with values in the Riemann sphere: There is a set of "indeterminacy" of codimension two (in the given example this set consists of the origin (0,0)).

Unlike in dimension one in higher dimension there do exist complex manifolds on which there are no non-constant meromorphic functions.

References

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• Serge Lang, Complex Analysis, Springer, 2003. ISBN 0387985921.

Funció meromorfa | Meromorfní_funkce | Meromorph | Fonction_méromorphe | פונקציה_מרומורפית | Funzione_meromorfa | 有理型関数 | Funkcja meromorficzna | Meromorfna_funkcija | 亚纯函数

Complex analysis