Hadamard three-circle theorem

In complex analysis, a branch of mathematics, the Hadamard three-circle theorem is a result about the behavior of holomorphic functions.

Let $f(z)$ be a holomorphic function on the annulus

$r_{1}\leq \left|z\right|\leq r_{3}.$

Let $M(r)$ be the maximum of $|f(z)|$ on the circle $|z|=r.$ Then, $\log M(r)$ is a convex function of the logarithm $\log(r).$ Moreover, if $f(z)$ is not of the form $cz^{\lambda }$ for some constants $\lambda$ and $c$, then $\log M(r)$ is strictly convex as a function of $\log(r).$

The conclusion of the theorem can be restated as

$\log \left({\frac {r_{3}}{r_{1}}}\right)\log M(r_{2})\leq \log \left({\frac {r_{3}}{r_{2}}}\right)\log M(r_{1})+\log \left({\frac {r_{2}}{r_{1}}}\right)\log M(r_{3})$

for any three concentric circles of radii $r_{1}<r_{2}<r_{3}.$

History

A statement and proof for the theorem was given by J.E. Littlewood in 1912, but he attributes it to no one in particular, stating it as a known theorem. Harald Bohr and Edmund Landau attribute the theorem to Jacques Hadamard, writing in 1896; Hadamard published no proof.

Proof

The three circles theorem follows from the fact that for any real a, the function Re log(z^af(z)) is harmonic between two circles, and therefore takes its maximum value on one of the circles. The theorem follows by choosing the constant a so that this harmonic function has the same maximum value on both circles.

The theorem can also be deduced directly from Hadamard's three-lines theorem.

See also

• Maximum principle
• Logarithmically convex function
• Hardy's theorem
• Hadamard three-lines theorem
• Borel–Carathéodory theorem
• Phragmén–Lindelöf principle

References

• Edwards, H.M. (1974), Riemann's Zeta Function, Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-41740-9
• Littlewood, J. E. (1912), "Quelques consequences de l'hypothese que la function ζ(s) de Riemann n'a pas de zeros dans le demi-plan Re(s) > 1/2.", Les Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences, 154: 263–266
• E. C. Titchmarsh, The theory of the Riemann Zeta-Function, (1951) Oxford at the Clarendon Press, Oxford. (See chapter 14)
• Ullrich, David C. (2008), Complex made simple, Graduate Studies in Mathematics, vol. 97, American Mathematical Society, pp. 386–387, ISBN 0821844792

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External links

• "proof of Hadamard three-circle theorem"