Digital Library of Mathematical Functions
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21 Multidimensional Theta FunctionsProperties

§21.2 Definitions

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§21.2(i) Riemann Theta Functions

21.2.1\mathop{\theta\/}\nolimits\!\left(\mathbf{z}\middle|\boldsymbol{{\Omega}}%
\right)=\sum_{{\mathbf{n}\in\Integer^{g}}}e^{{2\pi i\left(\frac{1}{2}\mathbf{n%
}\cdot\boldsymbol{{\Omega}}\cdot\mathbf{n}+\mathbf{n}\cdot\mathbf{z}\right)}}.

This g-tuple Fourier series converges absolutely and uniformly on compact sets of the \mathbf{z} and \boldsymbol{{\Omega}} spaces; hence \mathop{\theta\/}\nolimits\!\left(\mathbf{z}\middle|\boldsymbol{{\Omega}}\right) is an analytic function of (each element of) \mathbf{z} and (each element of) \boldsymbol{{\Omega}}. \mathop{\theta\/}\nolimits\!\left(\mathbf{z}\middle|\boldsymbol{{\Omega}}\right) is also referred to as a theta function with g components, a g-dimensional theta function or as a genus g theta function.

For numerical purposes we use the scaled Riemann theta function \mathop{\hat{\theta}\/}\nolimits\!\left(\mathbf{z}\middle|\boldsymbol{{\Omega}%
}\right), defined by (Deconinck et al. (2004)),

21.2.2\mathop{\hat{\theta}\/}\nolimits\!\left(\mathbf{z}\middle|\boldsymbol{{\Omega}%
}\right)=e^{{-\pi[\imagpart{\mathbf{z}}]\cdot[\imagpart{\boldsymbol{{\Omega}}}%
]^{{-1}}\cdot[\imagpart{\mathbf{z}}]}}\mathop{\theta\/}\nolimits\!\left(%
\mathbf{z}\middle|\boldsymbol{{\Omega}}\right).

\mathop{\hat{\theta}\/}\nolimits\!\left(\mathbf{z}\middle|\boldsymbol{{\Omega}%
}\right) is a bounded nonanalytic function of \mathbf{z}. Many applications involve quotients of Riemann theta functions: the exponential factor then disappears. See also §21.10(i).

§21.2(ii) Riemann Theta Functions with Characteristics

Let \boldsymbol{{\alpha}},\boldsymbol{{\beta}}\in\Real^{g}. Define

This function is referred to as a Riemann theta function with characteristics \begin{bmatrix}\boldsymbol{{\alpha}}\\
\boldsymbol{{\beta}}\end{bmatrix}. It is a translation of the Riemann theta function (21.2.1), multiplied by an exponential factor:

and

Characteristics whose elements are either 0 or \tfrac{1}{2} are called half-period characteristics. For given \boldsymbol{{\Omega}}, there are 2^{{2g}} g-dimensional Riemann theta functions with half-period characteristics.

§21.2(iii) Relation to Classical Theta Functions