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Theta function

Special functions of several complex variables

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  • 23 chapters

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Through Mathematics, Physics and Geometry

For this reason, theta functions have useful applications in topics such as

  • number theory: "in how many ways can a number be written as a sum of squares?"
  • physics: "how does heat flow on a toroidal ring?", "how do quantum particles behave when arranged in a lattice?"
  • geometry: "what are the shape properties of elliptic curves?"

and others, including abelian varieties, moduli spaces, quadratic forms, and solitons.

Theta functions in two dimensions are functions of two complex arguments. In one choice of parameter, for example, z encodes position on a two-dimensional lattice, and τ or q encodes the shape of the lattice. In higher dimensions, the shape of the lattice is dictated by a matrix; in general, theta functions are parametrized by points in a tube domain inside a complex Lagrangian Grassmannian, namely the Siegel upper half space.

Basic example

One example of a theta function is

θ(z,q)≡∑n=−∞∞qn2exp⁡(2πinz),

where z and q are complex numbers and |q|<1 so that the sum converges.

This analytic function can be used to solve a combinatorics problem: in how many different ways can an integer be written as the sum of two squares? When z=0, we have θ(0,q)=∑n=−∞∞qn2=1+2q+2q4+2q9+…+2qn2+…

This is a generating function where the coefficient of qk represents how many ways there are to write k as a perfect square: when k=0, there is just one way. When k is any other perfect square, there are two ways: n2=(−n)2. When k is not a perfect square, there are zero ways.

Squaring this generating function, we obtain θ(0,q)2=(∑mqm2)(∑nqn2)=∑m,nqm2+n2. Collecting terms by exponent, we find that θ(0,q)2 is a generating function where the coefficient of qk counts how many ways there are to write k as the sum of any two squares. This count includes negative integers and order, such that (3,4), (4,3), and (−3,4): each count as separate ways of making 32+42=25.

Application to elliptic functions

Theta functions occur most commonly in the theory of elliptic functions. With respect to one of the complex variables z, a theta function has a property expressing its behavior with respect to the addition of a period of the associated elliptic functions, making it a quasiperiodic function. Abstractly, this quasiperiodicity comes from the cohomology class of a line bundle on a complex torus, a condition of descent.

One interpretation of theta functions when dealing with the heat equation is that "a theta function is a special function that describes the evolution of temperature on a segment domain subject to certain boundary conditions".

Throughout this article, (eπiτ)α should be interpreted as eαπiτ (in order to resolve issues of choice of branch).

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