Complex Analysis

Problem Sheet 2 (with Solutions)

Prof. Dr. Karsten Große-Brauckmann Winter Term 2024/2025

Msc. Rizacan Ciloglu 31st October 2024
Date due: 14th November 2024

Group problems

Problem G1 (Warm-up)
(a) Try to answer these questions from memory and in no more than 3 minutes.
true false
(i) X : U → Rn has a potential if and only if U is simply con- 2 2
nected.
(ii) Path-connectedness implies connectedness. 2 2
(iii) Connectedness implies path-connectedness. 2 2
(iv) The union of simply connected sets is simply connected. 2 2
2 2
(b) Show that U := Br (p) ⊂ R is simply connected for any p ∈ R and r > 0.
(c) Let p, q ∈ U and consider the set M of all continuous curves starting at p and
ending at q. Show that

α∼β : ⇐⇒ α and β are homotopic

defines an equivalence relation on M .

Problem G2 (Subsets of C)
Sketch the following sets and check whether they are convex or star-shaped.
(a) {z ∈ C : 1 < Re(i z) < 2}
(b) {z ∈ C : 2 < |z − 1 + i | < 4}
(c) {z ∈ C : |z − i | = |z − 3i |}
(d) {z ∈ C : | arg z| < π/4 or | arg z| > 3π/4} ∪ {z ∈ C : |z| < 1}
CA, Problem Sheet 2 (with Solutions) Page 2

Problem G3 (Path integral)

Let f : Rn → R be a C 1 -function and c : [0, 1] → Rn be a differentiable path. Show that
Z
f (c(1)) − f (c(0)) = grad f · ds,
c

integral of grad f along c only depends on the endpoints of the path.

Problem G4 (Intervals are connected)

Let a, b ∈ R with a < b and consider the interval [a, b]. Show that [a, b] = A ∪ B with
disjoint and relatively open subsets A, B ⊂ [a, b] implies either A = ∅ or B = ∅.

Homework

Problem H1 (Connectedness and path-connectedness) 10 points

2 t
Consider the curve c : [0, ∞) → R , c(t) := t+1 exp(i t) describes a spiral asymptotic to
the unit circle S1 .
(a) Sketch the curve and describe its asymptotics as t → ∞ in words.
(b) Show that Ω := c([0, ∞)) ∪ S1 is connected, but not path-connected.
Solution. We first show that Ω is connected. Assume this were not the case, i.e. there
are non-empty, disjoint and relatively open subsets A, B ⊂ Ω such that Ω = A ∪ B.
We consider à := c([0, ∞)) ∩ A and B̃ := c([0, ∞)) ∩ B. Then à and B̃ are disjoint
relatively open subsets of Ω̃ := c([0, ∞)). They obviously satisfy Ω̃ = Ã ∪ B̃. The
path c is continuous and [0, ∞) is connected (same argument as for Problem G3 on this
Exercise Sheet), so Ω̃ is connected. Therefore à or B̃ must be empty, say à = ∅. This
shows Ω̃ ⊂ B. Since A and B are non-empty and their union is Ω we have A ∩ S1 ̸= ∅.
Since c is asymptotic to S1 and A is open this contradicts à = ∅.
Let us now prove that Ω is not path-connected. If Ω were path-connected then there
would be a path γ : [0, 1] → Ω with γ(0) = (0, 0) and γ(1) = (1, 0). Let us consider
b := inf{t ∈ [0, 1] : γ(t) ∈ S1 }. Then γ([0, b]) contains at most one point of S1 , while the
closure of γ([0, b]) contains all of S1 . Hence γ([0, b]) is not closed and cannot be compact,
a contradiction since continuous images of compact sets are compact.

Problem H2 (Path integral) 10 points

it
(a) Let cr : [0, 2π] → C, cr (t) = re be the circle of radius r > 0 and let X : C\{0} → C
R R
be irrotational. Show that c1 X · ds = c2 X · ds.
Hint: consider the loop γε .
CA, Problem Sheet 2 (with Solutions) Page 3

(b) Let ch : [0, 2π] → R3 , ch (t) = (cos t, sin t, h) be the circle in the horizontal plane
Eh and let Y : R2 \ {(0, 0, z) : z ∈ R} → R3 be irrotational. Prove by a reasoning
R R
similar to (a) that c0 Y · ds = c1 Y · ds.
You may sketch the arguments which agree with (a), but please indicate what needs
to be done.
(c) Give an example of a vector field X or Y as in (a) or (b), such that the respective
R R
integrals c1 X · ds and c0 Y · ds are non-zero.
Giving one example, either X or Y , is sufficient for full points, but you are encour-
aged to provide both.
Solution.
(a) Let us fix some notation. The path γε consists of the four curves cε1 , (cε2 )− (whose
traces are contained in c1 and c2 , respectively) and two horizontal line segments dε1
and dε2 , where we take dε1 to be in the upper half-plane.
Since X and all curves are continuous and since the traces of all curves are compact,
we clearly have Z Z
X · ds − X · ds → 0, i = 1, 2.
cεi ci

In order to take care of dεi , consider the small rectangle Rε bounded by dε1 , dε2 and
two vertical line segments α1ε and α2ε . Since X is irrotational and Rε is simply
connected, so again by continuity we conclude
Z Z Z Z Z
0= X · ds = X · ds + X · ds + X · ds + X · ds
∂Rε dε1 dε2 αε1 αε2

with the last two terms individually tending to 0 as ε → 0. Therefore, the sum of
CA, Problem Sheet 2 (with Solutions) Page 4

the first two terms tends to 0 as well.

The curve γε is contractible and X is irrotational, so we conclude
Z
0= X · ds
γε
Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z
= Xds − Xds + Xds − Xds − Xds + Xds + Xds + Xds
c1 c2 cε1 c1 cε2 c2 dε1 dε2
Z Z
→ Xds − Xds as ε → 0.
c1 c2

(b) Take a curve γε as depicted in the following figure.

The circle segments cεi are joined by vertical line segments dεi of height h. Continuity
and compactness imply Z Z
X ds → X ds
cεi ci

as before. By joining the endpoints of the circle segments with straight line seg-
ments, we obtain a vertical rectangle which is contractible. Thus, the same argu-
ment as above implies that
Z Z
X ds + X ds → 0.
dε1 dε2

The curve γε is contractible as well, so the same computation as in (a) works.

(c) Let c ∈ R be a constant.

(−y, x)
X(x, y) =
x2 + y 2
Y (x, y, z) = (X(x, y), c)
CA, Problem Sheet 2 (with Solutions) Page 5

Problem H3 (Homotopy) 10 points

2
Let U ⊂ R be a domain (open and connected). Show that U is simply connected if there
exists a point x ∈ U such that all loops in U starting and ending at x are contractible.
Hint: Take a path α connecting an arbitrary point p and x, then add the loop α + α−
twice.
Solution. Let p ∈ U and γ be a loop through p.
Since U is path-connected, there exists a path α : [0, 1] → R2 connecting p and x. We
claim that γ + α + α− and γ are homotopic. For this, consider the map



 α(2t) t ∈ [0, s/2)

h1 : [0, 1] × [0, 1] → R2 , h1 (s, t) = α(s) t ∈ [s/2, 1 − s/2)


α− (2t − 1) t ∈ [1 − s/2, 1]


This defines a homotopy between the constant curve p and the curve α + α− since we
have h1 (0, t) = h1 (s, 0) = h1 (s, 1) = p and h1 (1, t) = (α + α− )(t) for all s, t ∈ [0, 1]. This
allows as to add a loop starting at p through x. As homotopy is an equivalence relation,
we are allowed to add another loop α + α− , so we arrive at α + (α− + γ + α) + α− .
Next, we claim that this new curve and α + α− are homotopic. Loops through x are
contractible, so there is a homotopy h2 between α− + γ + α and x. Then, we define



 α(3t), t ∈ [0, 1/3)

h3 : [0, 1] × [0, 1] → R2 , h3 (s, t) = h2 (s, 3t − 1), t ∈ [1/3, 2/3)


α− (3t − 2),

t ∈ [2/3, 1]

We have h3 (0, t) = (α + α− + γ + α + α− )(t), h3 (1, t) = α + α− , h3 (s, 0) = h3 (s, 1) = p.

Thus, γ is homotopic to α+α− , and by symmetry of the equivalence relation and the first
step of this proof, this is homotopic to the constant curve p. Therefore, γ is contractible
to p.