University Maths Notes: Complex Analysis – Loiuville's Theorem
Theorem (Liouville's Theorem)
If f is a bounded entire function then f is constant.
Proof let %alpha be any point of setc , f an entire function and
let C be a circle with centre 0 and radius r >abs {%alpha} . Since
f is entire, so analytic on setc we can apply Cauchy's integral
formula twice to give
and
Subtracting
one from the other gives![]()
We need to estimate this integral. Since by assumption
is
bounded, there exists a number
such that
for
all
Also
for each
we
have
and
so by the backwards form of the triangle inequality,
for
It
follows that
for![]()
Hence![]()
We now show that for each positive number
we
can choose
so
large that![]()
⇔
⇔![]()
It follows that if
then
for
each
Since
can
be arbitrarily small
for
all
hence
is
a constant function.