ACM 95/100a: Branches for Complex Functions

Suvir Venkataraman

Tuesday 26th October 2004

1 Definitions
1.1 Textbook Style
• A branch of a multiple-valued function f is any single-valued function
F that is analytic in some domain at each point of z of which the value
F (z) is one of the values of f (z).

• A branchcut is a portion of a line or curve that is introduced in order

to define a branch F of a multiple-valued function f . Points on the
branch cut for F are singular points.

• Any point that is common to all branch cuts of f is called a branchpoint.

1.2 In normal terms

• Branch : restricts the multiple-valued function f to be a single valued
function F .

• BranchCut : how we dice up the complex plane to restrict f .

• BranchPoint : a point that lies on all possible branch cuts (i.e. in-
dependent of choice of theta etc..)

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2 Finding Branch Points
Bearing in mind that a branch point will only occur at points when the
function f (z) goes to 0 or ∞. To test if z0 is a branch point of f (z):

1. Take a small circuit around the point z0

2. If you get back to the point you started at then z0 is not a branch
point.

3. If the value of f(z) is different at the end of the circuit than it was at
the start, then we would normally say that this is a branch point.
But be careful : if this is only the case for a given branch (i.e. certain
definition of θ) then this is not a branch point (see later example with
log(z)).

3 Making the Branch Cut and Choosing the Branch

A branch cut must connect two or more branch points - i.e it has to begin
and terminate at a branch point. With this in mind take a walk around
the branch points and in between them and determine the continuity of the
function f .

4 Riemann Surfaces
A Riemann surface is a generalisation of the complex plane consisting of
more than one sheet. At each point on the surface only one value of a
multiple-valued function is assigned. Hence it allows you to visualise the
multiple branches of a function.
Note: you do not have to be able to draw them - as they can become very
tricky, they are handy to visualise branches at first.

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5 Examples
√
1. f (z) = z
√ θ
First rewrite in polar form: f (z) = reı 2

(a) Finite Branch Points:

We only consider points where f (z) becomes zero or ∞.
So look at z = 0 and walk around it, as shown in Figure 1.

Start
End

Figure 1: Walk around the origin

Starting at:
√ θ0
arg(z) = θ0 f (z) = rei 2 (1)
End up at:
√ θ0
arg(z) = θ0 + 2π f (z) = rei( 2 +π) (2)

which is not equal to the starting point. It can also be seen

that irrespective of how we define θ this will always be the case.
Therefore z = 0 is a branch point.
(b) What about z∞ ?
Do the standard transformation:
r
1 1 1 1 1 θ
z= ∴ f( ) = = t− 2 = r− 2 e−i 2 (3)
t t t

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 1 θ0
arg(z) = θ0 f (z) = r− 2 e−i 2 (4)
End up at:
1 θ0
arg(z) = θ0 + 2π f (z) = r− 2 e−i( 2 +π) (5)
which is not equal to the starting point, and this will always be
the case irrespective of how we define θ. So z∞ is a branch point.
(c) Branch Cut:
i. Let 0 ≤ θ ≤ 2π and consider points where discontinuities
could occur. So in this case we look at points just above and
below the positive real axis.
Just above the positive real axis f (z) = rei0 = r.
Just below the positive real axis f (z) = reiπ = −r.
Therefore we make the cut, connecting the branch points at
z = 0 and z∞ as shown in Figure 2.

Branch Cut

√
Figure 2: Branch cut for f (z) = z, with 0 ≤ θ ≤ 2π

ii. Let −π ≤ θ ≤ π and consider points where discontinuities

could occur. So in this case we look at points just above and
below the negative real axis.
π
Just above the negative real axis f (z) = rei 2 = ir.
π
Just below the negative real axis f (z) = re−i 2 = −ir.
Therefore we make the cut, connecting the branch points at
z = 0 and z∞ as shown in Figure 3.

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 Branch Cut

√
Figure 3: Branch cut for f (z) = z

(d) Riemann Surface:

√
Figure 4: Riemann surface for f (z) = z

2. f (z) = log(z)
First rewrite as: f (z) = Log|z|+i(θ) = Log(r)+i(θ), where θ = arg(z)
(a) Finite Branch Points:
We only consider points where f (z) becomes zero or ∞.
i. So look at z = 0 and walk around it.
Starting at:
arg(z) = θ0 f (z) = Log(r) + i(θ0 ) (6)
End up at:
arg(z) = θ0 + 2π f (z) = Log(r) + i(θ0 + 2π) (7)

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 which is not equal to the starting point. It can also be seen
that irrespective of how we define theta this will always be
the case. Therefore z = 0 is a branch point.
ii. Also look at z = 1 and take a walk around it.
Starting at:

arg(z) = θ0 f (z) = Log(1 + r) + i(θ0 ) (8)

End up at:

arg(z) = θ0 + 2π f (z) = Log(1 + r) + i(θ0 + 2π) (9)

which is not equal to the starting point. But this is only the
case if 0 ≤ θ ≤ 2π. Consider −π ≤ θ ≤ π, then the argument
of z does not change as we walk around z = 1. Therefore
z = 1 is not a branch point.
(b) What about z∞ ?
Do the standard transformation:
1 1
z= ∴ f ( ) = −log(z) = −Log(r) − i(θ) (10)
t t
By inspection this will behave the same way as f (z = 0) and so
z∞ is also a branch point.
(c) Branch Cut:
As in the previous example the branch cut will connect the branch
points at z = 0 and z∞ , the location of the cut will depend upon
the choice of θ.

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 (d) Riemann Surface:

Figure 5: Riemann surface for f (z) = log(z)

p
3. f (z) = (z 2 − 1) p
First rewrite as: f (z) = (z + 1)(z − 1)

(a) Finite Branch Points:

√
From the previous example with f (z) = z we can see by inspec-
tion that the points z = 1 and z = −1 are branch points.
(b) What about z∞ ?
Do the standard transformation:
r
1 1 1 1
z= ∴ f ( ) = ( + 1)( − 1) (11)
t t t t
−1
p
=t (1 + t)(1 − t) → ∞ (12)

Since t−1 simply tends to ∞ uniformly, z∞ is not a branch point.

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(c) Branch Cut:
Let:

z1 = (z − 1) = r1 eiθ1 z2 = (z + 1) = r2 eiθ2 (13)

√ √ θ1 +θ2
∴ f (z) = z1 z2 = r1 r2 ei 2 (14)

letting

θ1 + θ2 √
Φ= f (z) = r1 r2 eiΦ (15)
2
i. Let 0 ≤ θ1 , θ2 ≤ 2π and consider points where discontinuities
could occur. So in this case we look at points just above and
below the real axis, as shown in Figure 6 (i.e. points where
the thick horizontal lines are shown). There is a discontinuity
in f (z) along the real axis between the two branch points,
because Φ jumps by π here.
N.B. The 2π jump taken by Φ along the real axis for x > 1
does not result in a discontinuity for f (z) because ei2π = 1.
Therefore we make the cut, connecting the branch points at
z = −1 and z = 1 as shown in Figure 7.
ii. Let 0 ≤ θ1 ≤ 2π and −π ≤ theta2 ≤ π and consider points
where discontinuities could occur. Again we look at points
just above and below the real axis, as shown in Figure 8 (i.e.
points where the thick horizontal lines are shown). There
is a discontinuity in f (z) along the real axis for x > 1 and
x < −1.
Therefore we make the cut, connecting the branch points at
z = −1 and z = 1, through the point at infinity as shown in
Figure 9.

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 θ1 = π θ1 = π θ1 = 0
θ2 = π θ2 = 0 θ2 = 0

ϕ=π ϕ = π/2 ϕ=0

r2 r1
z2 z1
θ2 θ1

θ1 = π θ1 = π θ1 = 2π
θ2 = π θ2 = 2π θ2 = 2π

ϕ=π ϕ = 3π/2 ϕ = 2π

p
Figure 6: Walk around for f (z) = (z + 1)(z − 1), with 0 ≤ θ1 , θ2 ≤ 2π

-1 1

p
Figure 7: Branch cut for f (z) = (z + 1)(z − 1), with 0 ≤ θ1 , θ2 ≤ 2π

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 θ1 = π θ1 = π θ1 = 0
θ2 = π θ2 = 0 θ2 = 0

ϕ=π ϕ = π/2 ϕ=0

r2 r1
z2 z1
θ2 θ1

θ1 = π θ1 = π θ1 = 2π
θ2 = -π θ2 = 0 θ2 = 0

ϕ=0 ϕ = π/2 ϕ=π

p
Figure 8: Walk around for f (z) = (z + 1)(z − 1), with 0 ≤ θ1 ≤ 2π
and −π ≤ θ2 ≤ π

-1 1

p
Figure 9: Branch cut for f (z) = (z + 1)(z − 1), with 0 ≤ θ1 ≤ 2π and
−π ≤ θ2 ≤ π

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