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The argument-principle integral is the winding number of the image cycle
Statement
Let be a closed complex contour, let be meromorphic on a neighbourhood of , and suppose for every . Then is a closed complex contour with , and
Equivalently, if is any continuous argument of , then
If is also admissible and null-homologous in a larger open set on which is meromorphic, then the same integer equals by The argument principle for an admissible null-homologous cycle.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: A closed complex contour , a meromorphic function on a neighbourhood of , and on .
The winding number of a closed contour about a point off its trace is (The winding number of a closed contour about a point off its trace).
The winding number is also the normalized increment of any continuous argument (The winding number is the increment of a continuous argument divided by ).
A contour missing the origin admits a continuous logarithm, unique up to a constant in (Every contour missing a point admits a continuous logarithm, unique up to a constant in ).
A holomorphic nonvanishing function on a disc has a holomorphic logarithm, and that logarithm has derivative (A nonvanishing holomorphic function on a disc has a holomorphic logarithm, A holomorphic logarithm is a primitive of the logarithmic derivative).
Contour integrals add under concatenation, and a primitive computes the integral by endpoint increments (Complex line integrals change sign under reversal and add under concatenation, The line integral of a continuous function admitting a primitive is that primitive's endpoint increment along every rectifiable path).
Proof
Since is continuous on the compact set and never vanishes there, is a closed complex contour whose trace misses . By [L3], choose a continuous logarithm of . Cover by finitely many open discs on which has no zeros, and then subdivide into consecutive subcontours whose traces lie in those discs.
Fix . On , [L4] gives a holomorphic logarithm of , with . Along the trace of , both and are continuous logarithms of , so [L3] makes their difference constant. Therefore where the last equality is [L5] applied to the primitive .
Summing the equalities of step 2.1 over the subdivision and using the additivity from [L5] gives Now [L1] and [L2] applied to the contour identify the same increment with both and , so the two displayed formulas follow.
Depends on
The argument principle for an admissible null-homologous cycle
The winding number of a closed contour about a point off its trace
The winding number is the increment of a continuous argument divided by
Every contour missing a point admits a continuous logarithm, unique up to a constant in
A nonvanishing holomorphic function on a disc has a holomorphic logarithm
A holomorphic logarithm is a primitive of the logarithmic derivative
Complex line integrals change sign under reversal and add under concatenation
The line integral of a continuous function admitting a primitive is that primitive's endpoint increment along every rectifiable path