Transformation of Cauchy Riemann equations to polar coordinates using operator formalism

M. Himmelstrand (undergrad)
The Cauchy-Riemann equations in cartesian coordinates for a function f (x + iy) = u(x, y) + iv(x, y) are commonly stated as v u v u = , = x y y x But may equally well be written in the compact form +i x y f =0

The trick is to just transform the operator itself, expressing it in polar coordinates. It is a short exercise to derive r sin = + = cos x x r x r r r cos = + = sin + y y r y r r And we plug this into the operator +i = x y sin cos + i sin + r r r r i = (cos + i sin ) + (cos + i sin ) r r i i =e + r r cos

But since the eect of the operator is turning the (analytic) f into 0 we may equally well drop the exponential factor in the transformed Cauchy-Riemann equation which turns out to be i + r r u 1 v = , r r f =0

This we can break apart in terms of u and v should we like and get v 1 u = r r