In mathematics, the Weierstrass elliptic functions are elliptic functions that take a particularly simple form. They are named for Karl Weierstrass. This class of functions is also referred to as ℘-functions and they are usually denoted by the symbol ℘, a uniquely fancy script p. They play an important role in the theory of elliptic functions, i.e., meromorphic functions that are doubly periodic. A ℘-function together with its derivative can be used to parameterize elliptic curves and they generate the field of elliptic functions with respect to a given period lattice.
Symbol for Weierstrass
-function
Motivation
A cubic of the form
, where
are complex numbers with
, cannot be rationally parameterized.[1] Yet one still wants to find a way to parameterize it.
For the quadric
; the unit circle, there exists a (non-rational) parameterization using the sine function and its derivative the cosine function:
Because of the periodicity of the sine and cosine
is chosen to be the domain, so the function is bijective.
In a similar way one can get a parameterization of
by means of the doubly periodic
-function (see in the section "Relation to elliptic curves"). This parameterization has the domain
, which is topologically equivalent to a torus.[2]
There is another analogy to the trigonometric functions. Consider the integral function
It can be simplified by substituting
and
:
That means
. So the sine function is an inverse function of an integral function.[3]
Elliptic functions are the inverse functions of elliptic integrals. In particular, let:
Then the extension of
to the complex plane equals the
-function.[4] This invertibility is used in complex analysis to provide a solution to certain nonlinear differential equations satisfying the Painlevé property, i.e., those equations that admit poles as their only movable singularities.[5]
Definition
Let
be two complex numbers that are linearly independent over
and let
be the period lattice generated by those numbers. Then the
-function is defined as follows:

This series converges locally uniformly absolutely in the complex torus
.
It is common to use
and
in the upper half-plane
as generators of the lattice. Dividing by
maps the lattice
isomorphically onto the lattice
with
. Because
can be substituted for
, without loss of generality we can assume
, and then define
. With that definition, we have
.
Properties
is a meromorphic function with a pole of order 2 at each period
in
.
is a homogeneous function in that:

is an even function. That means
for all
, which can be seen in the following way:

- The second last equality holds because
. Since the sum converges absolutely this rearrangement does not change the limit.
- The derivative of
is given by:[6]
and
are doubly periodic with the periods
and
.[6] This means: It follows that
and
for all
.
Laurent expansion
Let
. Then for
the
-function has the following Laurent expansion
where
for
are so called Eisenstein series.[6]
Differential equation
Set
and
. Then the
-function satisfies the differential equation[6]
This relation can be verified by forming a linear combination of powers of
and
to eliminate the pole at
. This yields an entire elliptic function that has to be constant by Liouville's theorem.[6]
Invariants
The coefficients of the above differential equation
and
are known as the invariants. Because they depend on the lattice
they can be viewed as functions in
and
.
The series expansion suggests that
and
are homogeneous functions of degree
and
. That is[7]
for
.
If
and
are chosen in such a way that
,
and
can be interpreted as functions on the upper half-plane
.
Let
. One has:[8]
That means g2 and g3 are only scaled by doing this. Set
and
As functions of
,
and
are so called modular forms.
The Fourier series for
and
are given as follows:[9]
where
is the divisor function and
is the nome.
Modular discriminant
The modular discriminant
is defined as the discriminant of the characteristic polynomial of the differential equation as follows:
The discriminant is a modular form of weight
. That is, under the action of the modular group, it transforms as
where
with
.[10]
Note that
where
is the Dedekind eta function.[11]
For the Fourier coefficients of
, see Ramanujan tau function.
The constants e1, e2 and e3
,
and
are usually used to denote the values of the
-function at the half-periods.
They are pairwise distinct and only depend on the lattice
and not on its generators.[12]
,
and
are the roots of the cubic polynomial
and are related by the equation:
Because those roots are distinct the discriminant
does not vanish on the upper half plane.[13] Now we can rewrite the differential equation:
That means the half-periods are zeros of
.
The invariants
and
can be expressed in terms of these constants in the following way:[14]
,
and
are related to the modular lambda function:
Relation to Jacobi's elliptic functions
For numerical work, it is often convenient to calculate the Weierstrass elliptic function in terms of Jacobi's elliptic functions.
The basic relations are:[15]
where
and
are the three roots described above and where the modulus k of the Jacobi functions equals
and their argument w equals
Relation to Jacobi's theta functions
The function
can be represented by Jacobi's theta functions:
where
is the nome and
is the period ratio
.[16] This also provides a very rapid algorithm for computing
.
Relation to elliptic curves
Consider the embedding of the cubic curve in the complex projective plane

where
is a point lying on the line at infinity
. For this cubic there exists no rational parameterization, if
.[1] In this case it is also called an elliptic curve. Nevertheless there is a parameterization in homogeneous coordinates that uses the
-function and its derivative
:[17]
![{\displaystyle \varphi (\wp ,\wp '):\mathbb {C} /\Lambda \to {\bar {C}}_{g_{2},g_{3}}^{\mathbb {C} },\quad z\mapsto {\begin{cases}\left[\wp (z):\wp '(z):1\right]&z\notin \Lambda \\\left[0:1:0\right]\quad &z\in \Lambda \end{cases}}}](./032145bf25123dd8af552de7cc8244c2c357e3df.svg)
Now the map
is bijective and parameterizes the elliptic curve
.
is an abelian group and a topological space, equipped with the quotient topology.
It can be shown that every Weierstrass cubic is given in such a way. That is to say that for every pair
with
there exists a lattice
, such that
and
.[18]
The statement that elliptic curves over
can be parameterized over
, is known as the modularity theorem. This is an important theorem in number theory. It was part of Andrew Wiles' proof (1995) of Fermat's Last Theorem.
Addition theorem
The addition theorem states[19] that if
and
do not belong to
, then
This states that the points
and
are collinear, the geometric form of the group law of an elliptic curve.
This can be proven[20] by considering constants
such that
Then the elliptic function
has a pole of order three at zero, and therefore three zeros whose sum belongs to
. Two of the zeros are
and
, and thus the third is congruent to
.
The addition theorem can be put into the alternative form, for
:[21]
As well as the duplication formula:[21]
Proofs
This can be proven from the addition theorem shown above. The points
and
are collinear and lie on the curve
. The slope of that line is
So
,
, and
all satisfy a cubic
where
is a constant. This becomes
Thus
which provides the wanted formula
A direct proof is as follows.[22] Any elliptic function
can be expressed as:
where
is the Weierstrass sigma function and
are the respective zeros and poles in the period parallelogram. Considering the function
as a function of
, we have
Multiplying both sides by
and letting
, we have
, so
By definition the Weierstrass zeta function:
therefore we logarithmically differentiate both sides with respect to
obtaining:
Once again by definition
thus by differentiating once more on both sides and rearranging the terms we obtain
Knowing that
has the following differential equation
and rearranging the terms one gets the wanted formula
Typography
The Weierstrass's elliptic function is usually written with a rather special, lower case script letter ℘, which was Weierstrass's own notation introduced in his lectures of 1862–1863.[footnote 1] It should not be confused with the normal mathematical script letters P: 𝒫 and 𝓅.
In computing, the letter ℘ is available as \wp
in TeX. In Unicode the code point is U+2118 ℘ SCRIPT CAPITAL P (℘, ℘), with the more correct alias weierstrass elliptic function.[footnote 2] In HTML, it can be escaped as ℘
.
See also
- ^
This symbol was also used in the version of Weierstrass's lectures published by Schwarz in the 1880s. The first edition of A Course of Modern Analysis by E. T. Whittaker in 1902 also used it.[23]
- ^
The Unicode Consortium has acknowledged two problems with the letter's name: the letter is in fact lowercase, and it is not a "script" class letter, like U+1D4C5 𝓅 MATHEMATICAL SCRIPT SMALL P, but the letter for Weierstrass's elliptic function.
Unicode added the alias as a correction.[24][25]
References
- ^ a b Hulek, Klaus. (2012), Elementare Algebraische Geometrie : Grundlegende Begriffe und Techniken mit zahlreichen Beispielen und Anwendungen (in German) (2., überarb. u. erw. Aufl. 2012 ed.), Wiesbaden: Vieweg+Teubner Verlag, p. 8, ISBN 978-3-8348-2348-9
- ^ Rolf Busam (2006), Funktionentheorie 1 (in German) (4., korr. und erw. Aufl ed.), Berlin: Springer, p. 259, ISBN 978-3-540-32058-6
- ^ Jeremy Gray (2015), Real and the complex: a history of analysis in the 19th century (in German), Cham, p. 71, ISBN 978-3-319-23715-2
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
- ^ Rolf Busam (2006), Funktionentheorie 1 (in German) (4., korr. und erw. Aufl ed.), Berlin: Springer, p. 294, ISBN 978-3-540-32058-6
- ^ Ablowitz, Mark J.; Fokas, Athanassios S. (2003). Complex Variables: Introduction and Applications. Cambridge University Press. p. 185. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511791246. ISBN 978-0-521-53429-1.
- ^ a b c d e Apostol, Tom M. (1976), Modular functions and Dirichlet series in number theory (in German), New York: Springer-Verlag, p. 11, ISBN 0-387-90185-X
- ^ Apostol, Tom M. (1976). Modular functions and Dirichlet series in number theory. New York: Springer-Verlag. p. 14. ISBN 0-387-90185-X. OCLC 2121639.
- ^ Apostol, Tom M. (1976), Modular functions and Dirichlet series in number theory (in German), New York: Springer-Verlag, p. 14, ISBN 0-387-90185-X
- ^ Apostol, Tom M. (1990). Modular functions and Dirichlet series in number theory (2nd ed.). New York: Springer-Verlag. p. 20. ISBN 0-387-97127-0. OCLC 20262861.
- ^ Apostol, Tom M. (1976). Modular functions and Dirichlet series in number theory. New York: Springer-Verlag. p. 50. ISBN 0-387-90185-X. OCLC 2121639.
- ^ Chandrasekharan, K. (Komaravolu), 1920- (1985). Elliptic functions. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. p. 122. ISBN 0-387-15295-4. OCLC 12053023.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
- ^ Busam, Rolf (2006), Funktionentheorie 1 (in German) (4., korr. und erw. Aufl ed.), Berlin: Springer, p. 270, ISBN 978-3-540-32058-6
- ^ Apostol, Tom M. (1976), Modular functions and Dirichlet series in number theory (in German), New York: Springer-Verlag, p. 13, ISBN 0-387-90185-X
- ^ K. Chandrasekharan (1985), Elliptic functions (in German), Berlin: Springer-Verlag, p. 33, ISBN 0-387-15295-4
- ^ Korn GA, Korn TM (1961). Mathematical Handbook for Scientists and Engineers. New York: McGraw–Hill. p. 721. LCCN 59014456.
- ^ Reinhardt, W. P.; Walker, P. L. (2010), "Weierstrass Elliptic and Modular Functions", in Olver, Frank W. J.; Lozier, Daniel M.; Boisvert, Ronald F.; Clark, Charles W. (eds.), NIST Handbook of Mathematical Functions, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-19225-5, MR 2723248.
- ^ Hulek, Klaus. (2012), Elementare Algebraische Geometrie : Grundlegende Begriffe und Techniken mit zahlreichen Beispielen und Anwendungen (in German) (2., überarb. u. erw. Aufl. 2012 ed.), Wiesbaden: Vieweg+Teubner Verlag, p. 12, ISBN 978-3-8348-2348-9
- ^ Hulek, Klaus. (2012), Elementare Algebraische Geometrie : Grundlegende Begriffe und Techniken mit zahlreichen Beispielen und Anwendungen (in German) (2., überarb. u. erw. Aufl. 2012 ed.), Wiesbaden: Vieweg+Teubner Verlag, p. 111, ISBN 978-3-8348-2348-9
- ^ Watson; Whittaker (1927), A course in modern analysis (4 ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 440–441
- ^ Watson; Whittaker (1927), A course in modern analysis (4 ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 440–441
- ^ a b Rolf Busam (2006), Funktionentheorie 1 (in German) (4., korr. und erw. Aufl ed.), Berlin: Springer, p. 286, ISBN 978-3-540-32058-6
- ^ Akhiezer (1990), Elements of the theory of elliptic functions, AMS, pp. 40–41
- ^ teika kazura (2017-08-17), The letter ℘ Name & origin?, MathOverflow, retrieved 2018-08-30
- ^ "Known Anomalies in Unicode Character Names". Unicode Technical Note #27. version 4. Unicode, Inc. 2017-04-10. Retrieved 2017-07-20.
- ^ "NameAliases-10.0.0.txt". Unicode, Inc. 2017-05-06. Retrieved 2017-07-20.
- Abramowitz, Milton; Stegun, Irene Ann, eds. (1983) [June 1964]. "Chapter 18". Handbook of Mathematical Functions with Formulas, Graphs, and Mathematical Tables. Applied Mathematics Series. Vol. 55 (Ninth reprint with additional corrections of tenth original printing with corrections (December 1972); first ed.). Washington D.C.; New York: United States Department of Commerce, National Bureau of Standards; Dover Publications. p. 627. ISBN 978-0-486-61272-0. LCCN 64-60036. MR 0167642. LCCN 65-12253.
- N. I. Akhiezer, Elements of the Theory of Elliptic Functions, (1970) Moscow, translated into English as AMS Translations of Mathematical Monographs Volume 79 (1990) AMS, Rhode Island ISBN 0-8218-4532-2
- Tom M. Apostol, Modular Functions and Dirichlet Series in Number Theory, Second Edition (1990), Springer, New York ISBN 0-387-97127-0 (See chapter 1.)
- K. Chandrasekharan, Elliptic functions (1980), Springer-Verlag ISBN 0-387-15295-4
- Konrad Knopp, Funktionentheorie II (1947), Dover Publications; Republished in English translation as Theory of Functions (1996), Dover Publications ISBN 0-486-69219-1
- Serge Lang, Elliptic Functions (1973), Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-04162-6
- E. T. Whittaker and G. N. Watson, A Course of Modern Analysis, Cambridge University Press, 1952, chapters 20 and 21
External links