Wednesday, 30 July 2014

real analysis - Infinite series and the Riemann zeta function



I have two questions concerning infinite series in the context of the Riemann zeta function.




  1. Given the properties of infinite series, why can't we regroup the terms in ζ(0) in such a way as to give ζ(1)? i.e.




ζ(0)=n=01n0=n=01=1+1+1+=(1)+(1+1)+(1+1+1)+=1+2+3+=111+121+113+=n=0n=n=01n1=ζ(1)




  1. This one might be a lot simpler to answer: why can we assign a value to ζ(1)=n=01n1 when the infinite series on the RHS is clearly divergent, i.e. its nth term is always bigger than its (n1)th term?


Answer



In short: in a non-absolutely convergent series you can't do things like reorder and group terms because you may get a different answer. In fact, you can reorder the terms in in the sum 1/11/2+1/31/4+... (which in this case does converge, but not absolutely) to give you any real result you like!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_convergence




ζ(1) is something quite different. For numbers with Re(s)1 we don't define ζ(s)=n=1ns, but instead as the function which "smoothly" extends this sum which is well-defined on Re(s)>1 to those numbers with Re(s)1. It is, as was mentioned, a meromorphic continuation.


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