Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Cauchy's integral theorem
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==Discussion== As [[รdouard Goursat]] showed, Cauchy's integral theorem can be proven assuming only that the complex derivative <math>f'(z)</math> exists everywhere in <math>U</math>. This is significant because one can then prove [[Cauchy's integral formula]] for these functions, and from that deduce these functions are [[infinitely differentiable]]. The condition that <math>U</math> be [[simply connected]] means that <math>U</math> has no "holes" or, in [[homotopy]] terms, that the [[fundamental group]] of <math>U</math> is trivial; for instance, every open disk <math>U_{z_0} = \{ z : \left|z-z_{0}\right| < r\}</math>, for <math>z_0 \in \Complex</math>, qualifies. The condition is crucial; consider <math display="block">\gamma(t) = e^{it} \quad t \in \left[0, 2\pi\right]</math> which traces out the unit circle, and then the path integral <math display="block">\oint_\gamma \frac{1}{z}\,dz = \int_0^{2\pi} \frac{1}{e^{it}}(ie^{it} \,dt) = \int_0^{2\pi}i\,dt = 2\pi i </math> is nonzero; the Cauchy integral theorem does not apply here since <math>f(z) = 1/z</math> is not defined (and is certainly not holomorphic) at <math>z = 0</math>. One important consequence of the theorem is that path integrals of holomorphic functions on simply connected domains can be computed in a manner familiar from the [[fundamental theorem of calculus]]: let <math>U</math> be a [[simply connected]] [[open subset]] of <math>\Complex</math>, let <math>f: U \to \Complex</math> be a holomorphic function, and let <math>\gamma</math> be a [[piecewise continuously differentiable path]] in <math>U</math> with start point <math>a</math> and end point <math>b</math>. If <math>F</math> is a [[complex antiderivative]] of <math>f</math>, then <math display="block">\int_\gamma f(z)\,dz=F(b)-F(a).</math> The Cauchy integral theorem is valid with a weaker hypothesis than given above, e.g. given <math>U</math>'','' a simply connected open subset of <math>\Complex</math>, we can weaken the assumptions to <math>f</math> being holomorphic on <math>U</math> and continuous on [[closure (topology)|<math display="inline">\overline{U}</math>]] and <math>\gamma</math> a [[rectifiable curve|rectifiable]] [[Jordan curve theorem|simple loop]] in <math display="inline">\overline{U}</math>.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Walsh|first=J. L.|date=1933-05-01|title=The Cauchy-Goursat Theorem for Rectifiable Jordan Curves|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=19|issue=5|pages=540โ541| doi=10.1073/pnas.19.5.540|pmid=16587781|pmc=1086062|issn=0027-8424|doi-access=free|bibcode=1933PNAS...19..540W }}</ref> The Cauchy integral theorem leads to [[Cauchy's integral formula]] and the [[residue theorem]].
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)