Recovering holomorphic functions from their real or imaginary parts without the Cauchy-Riemann equations

Students of elementary complex analysis usually begin by seeing the derivation of the Cauchy--Riemann equations. A topic of interest to both the development of the theory and its applications is the reconstruction of a holomorphic function from its real part, or the extraction of the imaginary part from the real part, or vice versa. Usually this takes place by solving the partial differential system embodied by the Cauchy-Riemann equations. Here I show in general how this may be accomplished by purely algebraic means. Several examples are given, for functions with increasing levels of complexity. The development of these ideas within the Mathematica software system is also presented. This approach could easily serve as an alternative in the early development of complex variable theory

Integrable Structure of the Dirichlet Boundary Problem in Multiply-Connected Domains

We study the integrable structure of the Dirichlet boundary problem in two dimensions and extend the approach to the case of planar multiply-connected domains. The solution to the Dirichlet boundary problem in multiply-connected case is given through a quasiclassical tau-function, which generalizes the tau-function of the dispersionless Toda hierarchy. It is shown to obey an infinite hierarchy of Hirota-like equations which directly follow from properties of the Dirichlet Green function and from the Fay identities. The relation to multi-support solutions of matrix models is briefly discussed.Comment: 41 pages, 5 figures, LaTeX; some revision of exposition, misprints corrected, the version to appear in Commun. Math. Phy

Analytic theory of difference equations with rational and elliptic coefficients and the Riemann-Hilbert problem

A new approach to the analytic theory of difference equations with rational and elliptic coefficients is proposed. It is based on the construction of canonical meromorphic solutions which are analytical along "thick paths". The concept of such solutions leads to a notion of local monodromies of difference equations. It is shown that in the continuous limit they converge to the monodromy matrices of differential equations. New type of isomonodromic deformations of difference equations with elliptic coefficients changing the periods of elliptic curves is constructed.Comment: 38 pages, no figures; typos remove

Zeros of weakly holomorphic modular forms of levels 2 and 3

Let $M_k^\sharp(N)$ be the space of weakly holomorphic modular forms for $\Gamma_0(N)$ that are holomorphic at all cusps except possibly at $\infty$. We study a canonical basis for $M_k^\sharp(2)$ and $M_k^\sharp(3)$ and prove that almost all modular forms in this basis have the property that the majority of their zeros in a fundamental domain lie on a lower boundary arc of the fundamental domain.Comment: Added a reference, corrected typo