- Picard theorem
:"For the theorem on existence and uniqueness of solutions of differential equations, see Picard's existence theorem."In
complex analysis , the term Picard theorem (named afterCharles Émile Picard ) refers to either of two distinct yet relatedtheorem s, both of which pertain to the range of ananalytic function .tatement of the theorems
Little Picard
The first theorem, also referred to as "Little Picard", states that if a function "f"("z") is entire and non-constant, the range of "f"("z") is either the whole complex plane or the plane minus a single point.
This theorem was proved by Picard in 1879. It is a significant strengthening of Liouville's theorem which states that the image of an entire non-constant function must be unbounded.
Big Picard
The second theorem, also called "Big Picard" or "Great Picard", states that if "f"("z") has an
essential singularity at a point "w" then on anyopen set containing "w", "f"("z") takes on all possible complex values, with at most a single exception, infinitely often.This is a substantial strengthening of the
Weierstrass-Casorati theorem , which only guarantees that the range of "f" is dense in the complex plane.Notes
* The 'single exception' is in fact needed in both theorems: "ez" is an entire non-constant function which is never 0, and "e1/z" has an essential singularity at 0, but still never attains 0 as a value.
* "Big Picard" is true in a slightly more general form that also applies to
meromorphic function s: if "M" is aRiemann surface , "w" is a point on "M", P1C = C∪{∞} denotes theRiemann sphere and "f" : "M" {"w"} → P1C is a holomorphic function with essential singularity at "w", then on any open subset of "M" that contains "w" the function "f" attains all but at most "two" points of P1C infinitely often.:As an example, the meromorphic function "f"("z") = 1/(1 − exp(1/"z")) has an essential singularity at "z" = 0 and attains the value ∞ infinitely often in any neighborhood of 0; however it does not attain the values 0 or 1.* With this generalization, "Little Picard" follows from "Big Picard" because an entire function is either a polynomial or it has an essential singularity at infinity.
* The following
conjecture [Citation|last = Elsner|first = Bernhard|year = 1999|journal = Annales de l'institut Fourier|volume = 49|number = 1|pages = 303–331|title = Hyperelliptic action integral|url = http://archive.numdam.org/ARCHIVE/AIF/AIF_1999__49_1/AIF_1999__49_1_303_0/AIF_1999__49_1_303_0.pdf] is related to "Big Picard": Let "D"{0} be the puncturedunit disk in the complex plane and let "U"1, "U"2, …,"Un" be a finite open cover of "D"{0}. Suppose that on each "Uj" there is an injectiveholomorphic function "fj", such that "dfj" = "dfk" on each intersection "Uj" ∩ "Uk". Then the differentials glue together to a meromorphic 1-form on the unit disk . (It is clear that the differentials glue together to a holomorphic 1-form "g dz" on "D"{0}. In the special case where the residue of "g" at 0 is zero, then the conjecture follows from "Big Picard".)Notes
References
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