EPFL Logo
fr|en
Login
Concept

Essential singularity

In complex analysis, an essential singularity of a function is a "severe" singularity near which the function exhibits odd behavior. The category essential singularity is a "left-over" or default group of isolated singularities that are especially unmanageable: by definition they fit into neither of the other two categories of singularity that may be dealt with in some manner – removable singularities and poles. In practice some include non-isolated singularities too; those do not have a residue. Consider an open subset of the complex plane . Let be an element of , and a holomorphic function. The point is called an essential singularity of the function if the singularity is neither a pole nor a removable singularity. For example, the function has an essential singularity at . Let be a complex number, assume that is not defined at but is analytic in some region of the complex plane, and that every open neighbourhood of has non-empty intersection with . If both and exist, then is a removable singularity of both and . If exists but does not exist (in fact ), then is a zero of and a pole of . Similarly, if does not exist (in fact ) but exists, then is a pole of and a zero of . If neither nor exists, then is an essential singularity of both and . Another way to characterize an essential singularity is that the Laurent series of at the point has infinitely many negative degree terms (i.e., the principal part of the Laurent series is an infinite sum). A related definition is that if there is a point for which no derivative of converges to a limit as tends to , then is an essential singularity of . On a Riemann sphere with a point at infinity, , the function has an essential singularity at that point if and only if the has an essential singularity at 0: i.e. neither nor exists. The Riemann zeta function on the Riemann sphere has only one essential singularity, at . The behavior of holomorphic functions near their essential singularities is described by the Casorati–Weierstrass theorem and by the considerably stronger Picard's great theorem.

Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Related concepts (13)
Residue (complex analysis)
In mathematics, more specifically complex analysis, the residue is a complex number proportional to the contour integral of a meromorphic function along a path enclosing one of its singularities. (More generally, residues can be calculated for any function that is holomorphic except at the discrete points {ak}k, even if some of them are essential singularities.) Residues can be computed quite easily and, once known, allow the determination of general contour integrals via the residue theorem.
Zeros and poles
In complex analysis (a branch of mathematics), a pole is a certain type of singularity of a complex-valued function of a complex variable. It is the simplest type of non-removable singularity of such a function (see essential singularity). Technically, a point z0 is a pole of a function f if it is a zero of the function 1/f and 1/f is holomorphic (i.e. complex differentiable) in some neighbourhood of z0. A function f is meromorphic in an open set U if for every point z of U there is a neighborhood of z in which either f or 1/f is holomorphic.
Laurent series
In mathematics, the Laurent series of a complex function is a representation of that function as a power series which includes terms of negative degree. It may be used to express complex functions in cases where a Taylor series expansion cannot be applied. The Laurent series was named after and first published by Pierre Alphonse Laurent in 1843. Karl Weierstrass may have discovered it first in a paper written in 1841, but it was not published until after his death.
Show more

Copyright © 2025 EPFL, all rights reserved

Graph Chatbot

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.