In complex analysis of one and several complex variables, Wirtinger derivatives (sometimes also called Wirtinger operators [1] ), named after Wilhelm Wirtinger who introduced them in 1927 in the course of his studies on the theory of functions of several complex variables, are partial differential operators of the first order which behave in a very similar manner to the ordinary derivatives with respect to one real variable, when applied to holomorphic functions, antiholomorphic functions or simply differentiable functions on complex domains. These operators permit the construction of a differential calculus for such functions that is entirely analogous to the ordinary differential calculus for functions of real variables. [2]
Wirtinger derivatives were used in complex analysis at least as early as in the paper ( Poincaré 1899 ), as briefly noted by Cherry & Ye (2001 , p. 31) and by Remmert (1991 , pp. 66–67). [3] In the third paragraph of his 1899 paper, [4] Henri Poincaré first defines the complex variable in and its complex conjugate as follows
Then he writes the equation defining the functions he calls biharmonique, [5] previously written using partial derivatives with respect to the real variables with ranging from 1 to , exactly in the following way [6]
This implies that he implicitly used definition 2 below: to see this it is sufficient to compare equations 2 and 2' of ( Poincaré 1899 , p. 112). Apparently, this paper was not noticed by early researchers in the theory of functions of several complex variables: in the papers of Levi-Civita (1905), Levi (1910) (and Levi 1911) and of Amoroso (1912) all fundamental partial differential operators of the theory are expressed directly by using partial derivatives respect to the real and imaginary parts of the complex variables involved. In the long survey paper by Osgood (1966) (first published in 1913), [7] partial derivatives with respect to each complex variable of a holomorphic function of several complex variables seem to be meant as formal derivatives: as a matter of fact when Osgood expresses the pluriharmonic operator [8] and the Levi operator, he follows the established practice of Amoroso, Levi and Levi-Civita.
According to Henrici (1993 , p. 294), a new step in the definition of the concept was taken by Dimitrie Pompeiu: in the paper ( Pompeiu 1912 ), given a complex valued differentiable function (in the sense of real analysis) of one complex variable defined in the neighbourhood of a given point he defines the areolar derivative as the following limit
where is the boundary of a disk of radius entirely contained in the domain of definition of i.e. his bounding circle. [9] This is evidently an alternative definition of Wirtinger derivative respect to the complex conjugate variable: [10] it is a more general one, since, as noted a by Henrici (1993 , p. 294), the limit may exist for functions that are not even differentiable at [11] According to Fichera (1969 , p. 28), the first to identify the areolar derivative as a weak derivative in the sense of Sobolev was Ilia Vekua. [12] In his following paper, Pompeiu (1913) uses this newly defined concept in order to introduce his generalization of Cauchy's integral formula, the now called Cauchy–Pompeiu formula.
The first systematic introduction of Wirtinger derivatives seems due to Wilhelm Wirtinger in the paper Wirtinger 1927 in order to simplify the calculations of quantities occurring in the theory of functions of several complex variables: as a result of the introduction of these differential operators, the form of all the differential operators commonly used in the theory, like the Levi operator and the Cauchy–Riemann operator, is considerably simplified and consequently easier to handle. The paper is deliberately written from a formal point of view, i.e. without giving a rigorous derivation of the properties deduced.
Despite their ubiquitous use, [13] it seems that there is no text listing all the properties of Wirtinger derivatives: however, fairly complete references are the short course on multidimensional complex analysis by Andreotti (1976 , pp. 3–5), [14] the monograph of Gunning & Rossi (1965 , pp. 3–6), [15] and the monograph of Kaup & Kaup (1983 , p. 2,4) [16] which are used as general references in this and the following sections.
Definition 1. Consider the complex plane (in a sense of expressing a complex number for real numbers and ). The Wirtinger derivatives are defined as the following linear partial differential operators of first order:
Clearly, the natural domain of definition of these partial differential operators is the space of functions on a domain but, since these operators are linear and have constant coefficients, they can be readily extended to every space of generalized functions.
Definition 2. Consider the Euclidean space on the complex field The Wirtinger derivatives are defined as the following linear partial differential operators of first order:
As for Wirtinger derivatives for functions of one complex variable, the natural domain of definition of these partial differential operators is again the space of functions on a domain and again, since these operators are linear and have constant coefficients, they can be readily extended to every space of generalized functions.
When a function is complex differentiable at a point, the Wirtinger derivative agrees with the complex derivative . This follows from the Cauchy-Riemann equations. For the complex function which is complex differentiable
where the third equality uses the Cauchy-Riemann equations .
The second Wirtinger derivative is also related with complex differentiation; is equivalent to the Cauchy-Riemann equations in a complex form.
In the present section and in the following ones it is assumed that is a complex vector and that where are real vectors, with n ≥ 1: also it is assumed that the subset can be thought of as a domain in the real euclidean space or in its isomorphic complex counterpart All the proofs are easy consequences of definition 1 and definition 2 and of the corresponding properties of the derivatives (ordinary or partial).
Lemma 1. If and are complex numbers, then for the following equalities hold
Lemma 2. If then for the product rule holds
This property implies that Wirtinger derivatives are derivations from the abstract algebra point of view, exactly like ordinary derivatives are.
This property takes two different forms respectively for functions of one and several complex variables: for the n > 1 case, to express the chain rule in its full generality it is necessary to consider two domains and and two maps and having natural smoothness requirements. [17]
Lemma 3.1 If and then the chain rule holds
Lemma 3.2 If and then for the following form of the chain rule holds
Lemma 4. If then for the following equalities hold
Complex analysis, traditionally known as the theory of functions of a complex variable, is the branch of mathematical analysis that investigates functions of complex numbers. It is helpful in many branches of mathematics, including algebraic geometry, number theory, analytic combinatorics, and applied mathematics, as well as in physics, including the branches of hydrodynamics, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, and twistor theory. By extension, use of complex analysis also has applications in engineering fields such as nuclear, aerospace, mechanical and electrical engineering.
In the field of complex analysis in mathematics, the Cauchy–Riemann equations, named after Augustin Cauchy and Bernhard Riemann, consist of a system of two partial differential equations which form a necessary and sufficient condition for a complex function of a complex variable to be complex differentiable.
In mathematics, a holomorphic function is a complex-valued function of one or more complex variables that is complex differentiable in a neighbourhood of each point in a domain in complex coordinate space . The existence of a complex derivative in a neighbourhood is a very strong condition: It implies that a holomorphic function is infinitely differentiable and locally equal to its own Taylor series. Holomorphic functions are the central objects of study in complex analysis.
In complex analysis, the Riemann mapping theorem states that if is a non-empty simply connected open subset of the complex number plane which is not all of , then there exists a biholomorphic mapping from onto the open unit disk
In mathematics, mathematical physics and the theory of stochastic processes, a harmonic function is a twice continuously differentiable function where U is an open subset of that satisfies Laplace's equation, that is, everywhere on U. This is usually written as or
A mathematical symbol is a figure or a combination of figures that is used to represent a mathematical object, an action on mathematical objects, a relation between mathematical objects, or for structuring the other symbols that occur in a formula. As formulas are entirely constituted with symbols of various types, many symbols are needed for expressing all mathematics.
In mathematics, a differential operator is an operator defined as a function of the differentiation operator. It is helpful, as a matter of notation first, to consider differentiation as an abstract operation that accepts a function and returns another function.
In mathematical analysis, a function of bounded variation, also known as BV function, is a real-valued function whose total variation is bounded (finite): the graph of a function having this property is well behaved in a precise sense. For a continuous function of a single variable, being of bounded variation means that the distance along the direction of the y-axis, neglecting the contribution of motion along x-axis, traveled by a point moving along the graph has a finite value. For a continuous function of several variables, the meaning of the definition is the same, except for the fact that the continuous path to be considered cannot be the whole graph of the given function, but can be every intersection of the graph itself with a hyperplane parallel to a fixed x-axis and to the y-axis.
The theory of functions of several complex variables is the branch of mathematics dealing with functions defined on the complex coordinate space, that is, n-tuples of complex numbers. The name of the field dealing with the properties of these functions is called several complex variables, which the Mathematics Subject Classification has as a top-level heading.
In mathematics and especially differential geometry, a Kähler manifold is a manifold with three mutually compatible structures: a complex structure, a Riemannian structure, and a symplectic structure. The concept was first studied by Jan Arnoldus Schouten and David van Dantzig in 1930, and then introduced by Erich Kähler in 1933. The terminology has been fixed by André Weil. Kähler geometry refers to the study of Kähler manifolds, their geometry and topology, as well as the study of structures and constructions that can be performed on Kähler manifolds, such as the existence of special connections like Hermitian Yang–Mills connections, or special metrics such as Kähler–Einstein metrics.
In mathematics, the Schwarzian derivative is an operator similar to the derivative which is invariant under Möbius transformations. Thus, it occurs in the theory of the complex projective line, and in particular, in the theory of modular forms and hypergeometric functions. It plays an important role in the theory of univalent functions, conformal mapping and Teichmüller spaces. It is named after the German mathematician Hermann Schwarz.
In mathematics, a Sobolev space is a vector space of functions equipped with a norm that is a combination of Lp-norms of the function together with its derivatives up to a given order. The derivatives are understood in a suitable weak sense to make the space complete, i.e. a Banach space. Intuitively, a Sobolev space is a space of functions possessing sufficiently many derivatives for some application domain, such as partial differential equations, and equipped with a norm that measures both the size and regularity of a function.
In mathematics, the derivative is a fundamental construction of differential calculus and admits many possible generalizations within the fields of mathematical analysis, combinatorics, algebra, geometry, etc.
In mathematics, a change of variables is a basic technique used to simplify problems in which the original variables are replaced with functions of other variables. The intent is that when expressed in new variables, the problem may become simpler, or equivalent to a better understood problem.
In mathematics, plurisubharmonic functions form an important class of functions used in complex analysis. On a Kähler manifold, plurisubharmonic functions form a subset of the subharmonic functions. However, unlike subharmonic functions plurisubharmonic functions can be defined in full generality on complex analytic spaces.
In mathematics, a holomorphic vector bundle is a complex vector bundle over a complex manifold X such that the total space E is a complex manifold and the projection map π : E → X is holomorphic. Fundamental examples are the holomorphic tangent bundle of a complex manifold, and its dual, the holomorphic cotangent bundle. A holomorphic line bundle is a rank one holomorphic vector bundle.
In mathematics, quaternionic analysis is the study of functions with quaternions as the domain and/or range. Such functions can be called functions of a quaternion variable just as functions of a real variable or a complex variable are called.
The Andreotti–Norguet formula, first introduced by Aldo Andreotti and François Norguet, is a higher–dimensional analogue of Cauchy integral formula for expressing the derivatives of a holomorphic function. Precisely, this formula express the value of the partial derivative of any multiindex order of a holomorphic function of several variables, in any interior point of a given bounded domain, as a hypersurface integral of the values of the function on the boundary of the domain itself. In this respect, it is analogous and generalizes the Bochner–Martinelli formula, reducing to it when the absolute value of the multiindex order of differentiation is 0. When considered for functions of n = 1 complex variables, it reduces to the ordinary Cauchy formula for the derivative of a holomorphic function: however, when n > 1, its integral kernel is not obtainable by simple differentiation of the Bochner–Martinelli kernel.
In mathematics, calculus on Euclidean space is a generalization of calculus of functions in one or several variables to calculus of functions on Euclidean space as well as a finite-dimensional real vector space. This calculus is also known as advanced calculus, especially in the United States. It is similar to multivariable calculus but is somewhat more sophisticated in that it uses linear algebra more extensively and covers some concepts from differential geometry such as differential forms and Stokes' formula in terms of differential forms. This extensive use of linear algebra also allows a natural generalization of multivariable calculus to calculus on Banach spaces or topological vector spaces.
In complex geometry, the Kähler identities are a collection of identities between operators on a Kähler manifold relating the Dolbeault operators and their adjoints, contraction and wedge operators of the Kähler form, and the Laplacians of the Kähler metric. The Kähler identities combine with results of Hodge theory to produce a number of relations on de Rham and Dolbeault cohomology of compact Kähler manifolds, such as the Lefschetz hyperplane theorem, the hard Lefschetz theorem, the Hodge-Riemann bilinear relations, and the Hodge index theorem. They are also, again combined with Hodge theory, important in proving fundamental analytical results on Kähler manifolds, such as the -lemma, the Nakano inequalities, and the Kodaira vanishing theorem.