Potential theory

Potential theory may be defined as the study of harmonic functions.

Two dimensions

From the fact that the group of conformal transforms is infinite dimensional in two dimensions and finite dimensional for more than two dimensions, one can surmise that potential theory in two dimensions is different than potential theory in other dimensions. This is correct and, in fact, when one realizes that any two-dimensional harmonic function is the real part of a complex analytic function, one sees that the subject of two-dimensional potential theory is substantially the same as that of complex analysis. For this reason, when speaking of potential theory, one focuses attention on theorems which hold in three or more dimensions. In this connection, a surprising fact is that many results and concepts originally discovered in complex analysis (such as Schwartz's theorem, Morera's theorem, the Weierstrass-Casorati theorem, Laurent series, and the classification of singularities as removable, poles and essential singularities) generalize to results on harmonic functions in any dimension. By considering which theorems of complex analysis are special cases of theorems of potential theory in any dimension, one can obtain a feel for exactly what is special about complex analysis in two dimensions and what is simply the two-dimensional instance of more general results.

Related Topics:
Complex - Analytic function - Morera's theorem - Weierstrass-Casorati theorem - Laurent series - Singularities - Removable - Poles - Essential singularities

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