Weierstrass elliptic function

In mathematics, the Weierstrass elliptic functions are elliptic functions that take a particularly simple form. They are named for Karl Weierstrass. This class of functions are also referred to as ℘-functions and they are usually denoted by the symbol ℘, a uniquely fancy script p. They play an important role in the theory of elliptic functions, i.e., meromorphic functions that are doubly periodic. A ℘-function together with its derivative can be used to parameterize elliptic curves and they generate the field of elliptic functions with respect to a given period lattice.

Symbol for Weierstrass P function

Symbol for Weierstrass -function

Model of Weierstrass -function

Motivation

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A cubic of the form  , where   are complex numbers with  , cannot be rationally parameterized.[1] Yet one still wants to find a way to parameterize it.

For the quadric  ; the unit circle, there exists a (non-rational) parameterization using the sine function and its derivative the cosine function:   Because of the periodicity of the sine and cosine   is chosen to be the domain, so the function is bijective.

In a similar way one can get a parameterization of   by means of the doubly periodic  -function (see in the section "Relation to elliptic curves"). This parameterization has the domain  , which is topologically equivalent to a torus.[2]

There is another analogy to the trigonometric functions. Consider the integral function   It can be simplified by substituting   and  :   That means  . So the sine function is an inverse function of an integral function.[3]

Elliptic functions are the inverse functions of elliptic integrals. In particular, let:   Then the extension of   to the complex plane equals the  -function.[4] This invertibility is used in complex analysis to provide a solution to certain nonlinear differential equations satisfying the Painlevé property, i.e., those equations that admit poles as their only movable singularities.[5]

Definition

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Visualization of the  -function with invariants   and   in which white corresponds to a pole, black to a zero.

Let   be two complex numbers that are linearly independent over   and let   be the period lattice generated by those numbers. Then the  -function is defined as follows:

 

This series converges locally uniformly absolutely in the complex torus  .

It is common to use   and   in the upper half-plane   as generators of the lattice. Dividing by   maps the lattice   isomorphically onto the lattice   with  . Because   can be substituted for  , without loss of generality we can assume  , and then define  .

Properties

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  •   is a meromorphic function with a pole of order 2 at each period   in  .
  •   is an even function. That means   for all  , which can be seen in the following way:
 
The second last equality holds because  . Since the sum converges absolutely this rearrangement does not change the limit.
  • The derivative of   is given by:[6]  
  •   and   are doubly periodic with the periods   and  .[6] This means:   It follows that   and   for all  .

Laurent expansion

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Let  . Then for   the  -function has the following Laurent expansion   where   for   are so called Eisenstein series.[6]

Differential equation

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Set   and  . Then the  -function satisfies the differential equation[6]   This relation can be verified by forming a linear combination of powers of   and   to eliminate the pole at  . This yields an entire elliptic function that has to be constant by Liouville's theorem.[6]

Invariants

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The real part of the invariant g3 as a function of the square of the nome q on the unit disk.
 
The imaginary part of the invariant g3 as a function of the square of the nome q on the unit disk.

The coefficients of the above differential equation g2 and g3 are known as the invariants. Because they depend on the lattice   they can be viewed as functions in   and  .

The series expansion suggests that g2 and g3 are homogeneous functions of degree −4 and −6. That is[7]     for  .

If   and   are chosen in such a way that  , g2 and g3 can be interpreted as functions on the upper half-plane  .

Let  . One has:[8]     That means g2 and g3 are only scaled by doing this. Set   and   As functions of     are so called modular forms.

The Fourier series for   and   are given as follows:[9]     where   is the divisor function and   is the nome.

Modular discriminant

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The real part of the discriminant as a function of the square of the nome q on the unit disk.

The modular discriminant Δ is defined as the discriminant of the characteristic polynomial of the differential equation   as follows:   The discriminant is a modular form of weight 12. That is, under the action of the modular group, it transforms as   where   with ad − bc = 1.[10]

Note that   where   is the Dedekind eta function.[11]

For the Fourier coefficients of  , see Ramanujan tau function.

The constants e1, e2 and e3

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 ,   and   are usually used to denote the values of the  -function at the half-periods.       They are pairwise distinct and only depend on the lattice   and not on its generators.[12]

 ,   and   are the roots of the cubic polynomial   and are related by the equation:   Because those roots are distinct the discriminant   does not vanish on the upper half plane.[13] Now we can rewrite the differential equation:   That means the half-periods are zeros of  .

The invariants   and   can be expressed in terms of these constants in the following way:[14]      ,   and   are related to the modular lambda function:  

Relation to Jacobi's elliptic functions

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For numerical work, it is often convenient to calculate the Weierstrass elliptic function in terms of Jacobi's elliptic functions.

The basic relations are:[15]   where   and   are the three roots described above and where the modulus k of the Jacobi functions equals   and their argument w equals  

Relation to Jacobi's theta functions

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The function   can be represented by Jacobi's theta functions:   where   is the nome and   is the period ratio  .[16] This also provides a very rapid algorithm for computing  .

Relation to elliptic curves

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Consider the embedding of the cubic curve in the complex projective plane

 

For this cubic there exists no rational parameterization, if  .[1] In this case it is also called an elliptic curve. Nevertheless there is a parameterization in homogeneous coordinates that uses the  -function and its derivative  :[17]

 

Now the map   is bijective and parameterizes the elliptic curve  .

  is an abelian group and a topological space, equipped with the quotient topology.

It can be shown that every Weierstrass cubic is given in such a way. That is to say that for every pair   with   there exists a lattice  , such that

  and  .[18]

The statement that elliptic curves over   can be parameterized over  , is known as the modularity theorem. This is an important theorem in number theory. It was part of Andrew Wiles' proof (1995) of Fermat's Last Theorem.

Addition theorems

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Let  , so that  . Then one has:[19]  

As well as the duplication formula:[19]  

These formulas also have a geometric interpretation, if one looks at the elliptic curve   together with the mapping   as in the previous section.

The group structure of   translates to the curve   and can be geometrically interpreted there:

The sum of three pairwise different points   is zero if and only if they lie on the same line in  .[20]

This is equivalent to:   where  ,   and  .[21]

Typography

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The Weierstrass's elliptic function is usually written with a rather special, lower case script letter ℘, which was Weierstrass's own notation introduced in his lectures of 1862–1863.[footnote 1] It should not be confused with the normal mathematical script letters P, 𝒫 and 𝓅.

In computing, the letter ℘ is available as \wp in TeX. In Unicode the code point is U+2118 SCRIPT CAPITAL P (℘, ℘), with the more correct alias weierstrass elliptic function.[footnote 2] In HTML, it can be escaped as ℘.

Character information
Preview
Unicode name SCRIPT CAPITAL P / WEIERSTRASS ELLIPTIC FUNCTION
Encodings decimal hex
Unicode 8472 U+2118
UTF-8 226 132 152 E2 84 98
Numeric character reference ℘ ℘
Named character reference ℘, ℘

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ This symbol was also used in the version of Weierstrass's lectures published by Schwarz in the 1880s. The first edition of A Course of Modern Analysis by E. T. Whittaker in 1902 also used it.[22]
  2. ^ The Unicode Consortium has acknowledged two problems with the letter's name: the letter is in fact lowercase, and it is not a "script" class letter, like U+1D4C5 𝓅 MATHEMATICAL SCRIPT SMALL P, but the letter for Weierstrass's elliptic function. Unicode added the alias as a correction.[23][24]

References

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  1. ^ a b Hulek, Klaus. (2012), Elementare Algebraische Geometrie : Grundlegende Begriffe und Techniken mit zahlreichen Beispielen und Anwendungen (in German) (2., überarb. u. erw. Aufl. 2012 ed.), Wiesbaden: Vieweg+Teubner Verlag, p. 8, ISBN 978-3-8348-2348-9
  2. ^ Rolf Busam (2006), Funktionentheorie 1 (in German) (4., korr. und erw. Aufl ed.), Berlin: Springer, p. 259, ISBN 978-3-540-32058-6
  3. ^ Jeremy Gray (2015), Real and the complex: a history of analysis in the 19th century (in German), Cham, p. 71, ISBN 978-3-319-23715-2{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^ Rolf Busam (2006), Funktionentheorie 1 (in German) (4., korr. und erw. Aufl ed.), Berlin: Springer, p. 294, ISBN 978-3-540-32058-6
  5. ^ Ablowitz, Mark J.; Fokas, Athanassios S. (2003). Complex Variables: Introduction and Applications. Cambridge University Press. p. 185. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511791246. ISBN 978-0-521-53429-1.
  6. ^ a b c d e Apostol, Tom M. (1976), Modular functions and Dirichlet series in number theory (in German), New York: Springer-Verlag, p. 11, ISBN 0-387-90185-X
  7. ^ Apostol, Tom M. (1976). Modular functions and Dirichlet series in number theory. New York: Springer-Verlag. p. 14. ISBN 0-387-90185-X. OCLC 2121639.
  8. ^ Apostol, Tom M. (1976), Modular functions and Dirichlet series in number theory (in German), New York: Springer-Verlag, p. 14, ISBN 0-387-90185-X
  9. ^ Apostol, Tom M. (1990). Modular functions and Dirichlet series in number theory (2nd ed.). New York: Springer-Verlag. p. 20. ISBN 0-387-97127-0. OCLC 20262861.
  10. ^ Apostol, Tom M. (1976). Modular functions and Dirichlet series in number theory. New York: Springer-Verlag. p. 50. ISBN 0-387-90185-X. OCLC 2121639.
  11. ^ Chandrasekharan, K. (Komaravolu), 1920- (1985). Elliptic functions. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. p. 122. ISBN 0-387-15295-4. OCLC 12053023.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Busam, Rolf (2006), Funktionentheorie 1 (in German) (4., korr. und erw. Aufl ed.), Berlin: Springer, p. 270, ISBN 978-3-540-32058-6
  13. ^ Apostol, Tom M. (1976), Modular functions and Dirichlet series in number theory (in German), New York: Springer-Verlag, p. 13, ISBN 0-387-90185-X
  14. ^ K. Chandrasekharan (1985), Elliptic functions (in German), Berlin: Springer-Verlag, p. 33, ISBN 0-387-15295-4
  15. ^ Korn GA, Korn TM (1961). Mathematical Handbook for Scientists and Engineers. New York: McGraw–Hill. p. 721. LCCN 59014456.
  16. ^ Reinhardt, W. P.; Walker, P. L. (2010), "Weierstrass Elliptic and Modular Functions", in Olver, Frank W. J.; Lozier, Daniel M.; Boisvert, Ronald F.; Clark, Charles W. (eds.), NIST Handbook of Mathematical Functions, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-19225-5, MR 2723248.
  17. ^ Hulek, Klaus. (2012), Elementare Algebraische Geometrie : Grundlegende Begriffe und Techniken mit zahlreichen Beispielen und Anwendungen (in German) (2., überarb. u. erw. Aufl. 2012 ed.), Wiesbaden: Vieweg+Teubner Verlag, p. 12, ISBN 978-3-8348-2348-9
  18. ^ Hulek, Klaus. (2012), Elementare Algebraische Geometrie : Grundlegende Begriffe und Techniken mit zahlreichen Beispielen und Anwendungen (in German) (2., überarb. u. erw. Aufl. 2012 ed.), Wiesbaden: Vieweg+Teubner Verlag, p. 111, ISBN 978-3-8348-2348-9
  19. ^ a b Rolf Busam (2006), Funktionentheorie 1 (in German) (4., korr. und erw. Aufl ed.), Berlin: Springer, p. 286, ISBN 978-3-540-32058-6
  20. ^ Rolf Busam (2006), Funktionentheorie 1 (in German) (4., korr. und erw. Aufl ed.), Berlin: Springer, p. 287, ISBN 978-3-540-32058-6
  21. ^ Rolf Busam (2006), Funktionentheorie 1 (in German) (4., korr. und erw. Aufl ed.), Berlin: Springer, p. 288, ISBN 978-3-540-32058-6
  22. ^ teika kazura (2017-08-17), The letter ℘ Name & origin?, MathOverflow, retrieved 2018-08-30
  23. ^ "Known Anomalies in Unicode Character Names". Unicode Technical Note #27. version 4. Unicode, Inc. 2017-04-10. Retrieved 2017-07-20.
  24. ^ "NameAliases-10.0.0.txt". Unicode, Inc. 2017-05-06. Retrieved 2017-07-20.
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