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## Über dieses Buch

This book grew out of lectures on Riemann surfaces which the author gave at the universities of Munich, Regensburg and Munster. Its aim is to give an introduction to this rich and beautiful subject, while presenting methods from the theory of complex manifolds which, in the special case of one complex variable, turn out to be particularly elementary and transparent. The book is divided into three chapters. In the first chapter we consider Riemann surfaces as covering spaces and develop a few basics from topology which are needed for this. Then we construct the Riemann surfaces which arise via analytic continuation of function germs. In particular this includes the Riemann surfaces of algebraic functions. As well we look more closely at analytic functions which display a special multi-valued behavior. Examples of this are the primitives of holomorphic i-forms and the solutions of linear differential equations. The second chapter is devoted to compact Riemann surfaces. The main classical results, like the Riemann-Roch Theorem, Abel's Theorem and the Jacobi inversion problem, are presented. Sheaf cohomology is an important technical tool. But only the first cohomology groups are used and these are comparatively easy to handle. The main theorems are all derived, following Serre, from the finite dimensionality of the first cohomology group with coefficients in the sheaf of holomorphic functions. And the proof of this is based on the fact that one can locally solve inhomogeneous Cauchy­ Riemann equations and on Schwarz' Lemma.

## Inhaltsverzeichnis

### Chapter 1. Covering Spaces

Abstract
Riemann surfaces originated in complex analysis as a means of dealing with the problem of multi-valued functions. Such multi-valued functions occur because the analytic continuation of a given holomorphic function element along different paths leads in general to different branches of that function. It was the idea of Riemann to replace the domain of the function with a many sheeted covering of the complex plane. If the covering is constructed so that it has as many points lying over any given point in the plane as there are function elements at that point, then on this “covering surface ”the analytic function becomes single-valued. Now, forgetting the fact that these surfaces are “spread out” over the complex plane (or the Riemann sphere), we get the notion of an abstract Riemann surface and these may be considered as the natural domain of definition of analytic functions in one complex variable.
Otto Foster

### Chapter 2. Compact Riemann Surfaces

Abstract
Amongst all Riemann surfaces the compact ones are especially important. They arise, for example, as those covering surfaces of the Riemann sphere defined by algebraic functions. As well their function theory is subject to interesting restrictions, like the Riemann-Roch Theorem and Abel’s Theorem. More recently the theory of Riemann surfaces has been generalized to an extensive theory for complex manifolds of higher dimension. And the methods developed for this are very well suited to proving the classical theorems. One such method is sheaf cohomology and we give a short introduction to this in the present chapter.
Otto Foster

### Chapter 3. Non-compact Riemann Surfaces

Abstract
In many respects, function theory on non-compact Riemann surfaces is similar to function theory on domains in the complex plane. Thus for non-compact Riemann surfaces one has analogues of the Mittag-Leffler Theorem and the Weierstrass Theorem as well as the Riemann Mapping Theorem.
Otto Foster

### Backmatter

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