# Pole (of a function)

An isolated singular point $a$ of single-valued character of an analytic function $f(z)$ of the complex variable $z$ for which $\abs{f(z)}$ increases without bound when $z$ approaches $a$: $\lim_{z\rightarrow a} f(z) = \infty$. In a sufficiently small punctured neighbourhood $V=\set{z\in\C : 0 < \abs{z-a} < R}$ of the point $a \neq \infty$, or $V'=\set{z\in\C : r < \abs{z} < \infty}$ in the case of the point at infinity $a=\infty$, the function $f(z)$ can be written as a Laurent series of special form: $$\label{eq1} f(z) = \sum_{k=-m}^\infty c_k (z-a)^k,\quad \text{a \neq \infty, c_{-m} \neq 0, z \in V},$$ or, respectively, $$\label{eq2} f(z) = \sum_{k=-m}^\infty \frac{c_k}{z^k},\quad \text{a = \infty, c_{-m} \neq 0, z \in V'},$$ with finitely many negative exponents if $a\neq\infty$, or, respectively, finitely many positive exponents if $a=\infty$. The natural number $m$ in these expressions is called the order, or multiplicity, of the pole $a$; when $m=1$ the pole is called simple. The expressions \ref{eq1} and \ref{eq2} show that the function $p(z)=(z-a)^mf (z)$ if $a\neq\infty$, or $p(z)=z^{-m}f(z)$ if $a=\infty$, can be [[Analytic continuation|analytically continued]] to a full neighbourhood of the pole $a$, and, moreover, $p(a) \neq 0$. Alternatively, a pole $a$ of order $m$ can also be characterized by the fact that the function $1/f(z)$ has a zero of multiplicity $m$ at $a$. A point $a=(a_1,\ldots,a_n)$ of the complex space $\C^n$, $n\geq2$, is called a pole of the analytic function $f(z)$ of several complex variables $z=(z_1,\ldots,z_n)$ if the following conditions are satisfied: 1) $f(z)$ is holomorphic everywhere in some neighbourhood $U$ of $a$ except at a set $P \subset U$, $a \in P$; 2) $f(z)$ cannot be analytically continued to any point of $P$; and 3) there exists a function $q(z) \not\equiv 0$, holomorphic in $U$, such that the function $p(z) = q(z)f(z)$, which is holomorphic in $U \setminus P$, can be holomorphically continued to the full neighbourhood $U$, and, moreover, $p(a) \neq 0$. Here also '"UNIQ-MathJax2-QINU"' however, for $n \geq 2$, poles, as with singular points in general, cannot be isolated. ===='"UNIQ--h-0--QINU"'References==== <table><tr><td valign="top">[1]</td> <td valign="top"> B.V. Shabat, "Introduction of complex analysis" , '''2''' , Moscow (1976) (In Russian)</td></tr></table> ===='"UNIQ--h-1--QINU"'Comments==== For $n=1$ see [[#References|[a1]]]. For $n \geq 2$ see [a2], [a3].