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Overview of Complex Analysis and Applications

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 Overview of Complex Analysis and Applications
Edgardo V. Gerck∗ and Ed Gerck†
Planalto Research
(Dated: February 11, 2019. Version: March 6, 2020)
√ √
One can not really visualize 2, but one can visualize -1, and apply it in physics and engineering.
This work is an exploration of complex analysis as a tool for physics and engineering. Although
nothing in reality is a “complex number,” it includes an overview of the topics in four investigations,
included as appendices. Results begin and end in real number theory, but have a path through the
complex plane, which conditions the result, but remains hidden. The topics also include the Laplace
equation, harmonic functions, subharmonic analysis, the residue theorem, the Cauchy principle
value, conformal mapping, and graphical rendering.

I. INTRODUCTION This work builds a DIY guide to researchers

in physics and engineering, introducing various
As a tool for physics and engineering, com- topics of complex analysis.
plex analysis provides both a geometric view √
and an analytically rigorous derivation [1–3]. As Edward Titchmarsh [4] √ observed, -1
We can only measure finite integers, and their is a much simpler concept than 2, which is an
ratio as a finite rational; so-called complex irrational number.
numbers are used for their nice properties, but √
they are not actually complex or even so-called There are certainly people that regard 2
real numbers — the reality that we can see as
√ something perfectly obvious, but sneer at
and measure is limited to finite rationals. -1. This is because they think they can
visualize the former as something in physical
This can help better understand the top- space, but not the latter.
ics, such as in using aerodynamics for wing
design, shown on the next page. This investigation aims to show the √ com-
plement: one can √ not really visualize 2, but
one can visualize -1, and apply it in physics
and engineering. One could do this in the
real-line only, but one will benefit from the
complex plane [1–3], as shown here.

The complex numbers introduce constraints,

however, on the data representation, that
are extraneous, human-made. For example,
every complex function is also a solution of
the Laplace equation, which further constrains
using them.

FIG. 1. Calculated air flow in wing design. A solution to the Laplace equation has
the property that the average value over a
spherical surface is equal to the value at the
center of the sphere (the harmonic function
∗ All correspondence should be directed to: theorem, by Gauss).
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Edgardo Gerck
† https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ed Gerck Solutions have no local maxima or min-
 2

ima. Because the Laplace equation is linear, continuation of t > 0 into −it, sometimes into
the superposition of any two solutions is also a it, both leading to t2 → −t2 .
solution, as can be seen in Appendix B.
In physics, the Wick rotation is a method
of finding a solution to a mathematical problem
II. APPLICATIONS TO PHYSICS AND in Minkowski space from a solution to a related
ENGINEERING problem in Euclidean space by means of a
transformation that substitutes an imaginary-
In applications to physics and engineering, number variable for a real-number variable.
complex analysis provides different tools than
one could expect, with further details given in Also explored in Appendix C, one can use
Appendix A. what we can call the “inverse Wick rotation”
or “STA rotation”, such as done in spacetime
algebra and Cl(1, 3) [6]. It does not involve
the imaginary axis, like the Wick rotation,
but a real-valued Clifford algebra. It is also
an analytic continuation, but of reals into real
bivectors.

The Laplace equation, investigated in Ap-

pendix B, is used to describe the steady state
distribution of heat in a body, or its electrical
charge. It can also be used in graphical
rendering, to provide a “soap film surface”
FIG. 2. Example of integral transform. From [3],
in image design – one treats the pixel values
page 934.
surrounding a region as heights of a closed
loop of wire, figuring out the smooth shape of
In engineering, such as electrical and me- a soap film that would be bounded by that wire.
chanical, it is a well-known method of finding
the time function by means of its integral It turns out that the complex-value of w(z)
transform, illustrated on the previous page. is not important in real-world applications,
where finite rational numbers must be used.
Finding the inverse transform is studied, As usual in quantum mechanics, though, the
as according to Appendix A, in terms of the set of all wave-functions for a given system is
inverse Laplace transformation: represented by an infinite-dimensional complex
Z γ+i∞ Hilbert space [7]. Then, wave-functions de-
1
F (t) = est f (s) ds. (1) scribing particles are usually complex-valued
2πi γ−i∞ functions of real space and time variables.
In this inverse transform, one has rotated
Continued online at:
the line of integration through 90◦ (by using
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZQZZBJ7
ds = i du). The path has become an infinite
and in paperback at:
vertical line in the complex plane, the constant
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1703145186
γ having been chosen so that all the singulari-
ties of f (s) are on the left-hand side.

Similar rotation, the Wick rotation, fur-

ther expounded upon in Appendix C, was first
used by Gian Carlo Wick [5], and is an analytic
 3

[1] Ian Stewart and David Tall. Complex Analysis. org/pr/abstract/10.1103/PhysRev.96.1124,

Cambridge University Press, 1983. 1954.
[2] Lars Ahlfors. Complex Analysis. McGraw-Hill, [6] Ed Gerck. On the fusion of time
Inc., 1979. and space in special and general rel-
[3] George B. Arfken. Mathematical Methods For ativity and cosmology. Online at:
Physicists. Elsevier Academic Press, 2005. https://www.researchgate.net/post/On_
[4] Julian Havil. The Irrationals. Princeton Univer- the_fusion_of_time_and_space_in_special_
sity Press, 2012. and_general_relativity_and_cosmology.
[5] Gian Carlo Wick. Properties of Bethe-Salpeter [7] Note1. A Hilbert space is a vector space H with
Wave Functions. Physical Review. 96 (4): an inner productp< f, g > such that the norm
1124–1134. Online at https://journals.aps. defined by |f | = (f, f ) allows H to be a com-
plete metric space.

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