
Laurent Series
If isanalytic throughout the annular region between and on the concentric circles
and
centered at
and of radii
and
respectively, then there exists a unique series expansion in terms of positive and negative powers of
,
(1) |
where
(2) | |||
(3) |
(Korn and Korn 1968, pp. 197-198).
Let there be two circular contours and
, with the radius of
larger than that of
. Let
be at the center of
and
, and
be between
and
. Now create a cut line
between
and
, and integrate around the path
, so that the plus and minus contributions of
cancel one another, as illustrated above. From theCauchy integral formula,
(4) | |||
(5) | |||
(6) |
Now, since contributions from the cut line in opposite directions cancel out,
(7) | |||
(8) | |||
(9) |
For the first integral,. For the second,
. Now use theTaylor series (valid for
)
(10) |
to obtain
(11) | |||
(12) | |||
(13) |
where the second term has been re-indexed. Re-indexing again,
(14) |
Since the integrands, including the function, are analytic in the annular region defined by
and
, the integrals are independent of the path of integration in that region. If we replace paths of integration
and
by a circle
of radius
with
, then
(15) | |||
(16) | |||
(17) |
Generally, the path of integration can be any path that lies in the annular region and encircles
once in the positive (counterclockwise) direction.
Thecomplex residues are therefore defined by
(18) |
Note that the annular region itself can be expanded by increasing and decreasing
until singularities of
that lie just outside
or just inside
are reached. If
has no singularities inside
, then all the
terms in (◇) equal zero and the Laurent series of (◇) reduces to aTaylor series with coefficients
.
See also
Complex Residue,Maclaurin Series,Principal Part,Taylor SeriesPortions of this entry contributed byDavidGoodmanson
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References
Arfken, G. "Laurent Expansion." §6.5 inMathematical Methods for Physicists, 3rd ed. Orlando, FL: Academic Press, pp. 376-384, 1985.Korn, G. A. and Korn, T. M.Mathematical Handbook for Scientists and Engineers. New York: McGraw-Hill, p. 198, 1968.Knopp, K. "The Laurent Expansion." Ch. 10 inTheory of Functions Parts I and II, Two Volumes Bound as One, Part I. New York: Dover, pp. 117-122, 1996.Krantz, S. G. "Laurent Series." §4.2.1 inHandbook of Complex Variables. Boston, MA: Birkhäuser, p. 43, 1999.Morse, P. M. and Feshbach, H. "Derivatives of Analytic Functions, Taylor and Laurent Series." §4.3 inMethods of Theoretical Physics, Part I. New York: McGraw-Hill, pp. 374-398, 1953.Referenced on Wolfram|Alpha
Laurent SeriesCite this as:
Goodmanson, David andWeisstein, Eric W. "Laurent Series." FromMathWorld--A Wolfram Resource.https://mathworld.wolfram.com/LaurentSeries.html