Power Series, Conformal Maps

Conformal Maps

An analytic function f is conformal at a point p if, for every pair of curves passing through p, the angle of intersection is preserved by f. In other words, the curves meet at the same angle, in the domain and range.

The map is conformal whereever f′ is nonzero. If the two curves have direction vectors u and v at p, the new direction vectors are f′(p)×u and f′(p)×v. Multiplication by the common factor f′(p) moves both u and v through a common angle, thus the images of the two curves meet at the same angle in the domain and range.

Next let f′ = 0. For convenience let p = 0, and write f = zmg+q, where g is an analytic function with g(0) nonzero, q is a constant, and m is at least 2. Shifting the image by q isn't going to change anything, so ignore that. The angle of the direction vector u is now multiplied by m, courtesy of zm, and this is multiplied by g, which is close to g(0) near the origin, which is a nonzero constant. Multiplying by this nonzero constant moves the direction vector through a fixed angle. In the end, both u and v are multiplied by m, then rotated by a fixed amount. The angle between u and v is multiplied by m.

A map is conformal across its domain iff f′ is everywhere nonzero.