Positive-real functions, often abbreviated to PR function or PRF, are a kind of mathematical function that first arose in electrical network synthesis. They are complex functions, Z(s), of a complex variable, s. A rational function is defined to have the PR property if it has a positive real part and is analytic in the right half of the complex plane and takes on real values on the real axis.
In symbols the definition is,
ℜ [ Z ( s ) ] > 0 if ℜ ( s ) > 0 ℑ [ Z ( s ) ] = 0 if ℑ ( s ) = 0 {\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}&\Re [Z(s)]>0\quad {\text{if}}\quad \Re (s)>0\\&\Im [Z(s)]=0\quad {\text{if}}\quad \Im (s)=0\end{aligned}}}In electrical network analysis, Z(s) represents an impedance expression and s is the complex frequency variable, often expressed as its real and imaginary parts;
s = σ + i ω {\displaystyle s=\sigma +i\omega \,\!}in which terms the PR condition can be stated;
ℜ [ Z ( s ) ] > 0 if σ > 0 ℑ [ Z ( s ) ] = 0 if ω = 0 {\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}&\Re [Z(s)]>0\quad {\text{if}}\quad \sigma >0\\&\Im [Z(s)]=0\quad {\text{if}}\quad \omega =0\end{aligned}}}The importance to network analysis of the PR condition lies in the realisability condition. Z(s) is realisable as a one-port rational impedance if and only if it meets the PR condition. Realisable in this sense means that the impedance can be constructed from a finite (hence rational) number of discrete ideal passive linear elements (resistors, inductors and capacitors in electrical terminology).
Definition
The term positive-real function was originally defined by2 Otto Brune to describe any function Z(s) which3
- is rational (the quotient of two polynomials),
- is real when s is real
- has positive real part when s has a positive real part
Many authors strictly adhere to this definition by explicitly requiring rationality,4 or by restricting attention to rational functions, at least in the first instance.5 However, a similar more general condition, not restricted to rational functions had earlier been considered by Cauer,6 and some authors ascribe the term positive-real to this type of condition, while others consider it to be a generalization of the basic definition.7
History
The condition was first proposed by Wilhelm Cauer (1926)8 who determined that it was a necessary condition. Otto Brune (1931)910 coined the term positive-real for the condition and proved that it was both necessary and sufficient for realisability.
Properties
- The sum of two PR functions is PR.
- The composition of two PR functions is PR. In particular, if Z(s) is PR, then so are 1/Z(s) and Z(1/s).
- All the zeros and poles of a PR function are in the left half plane or on its boundary of the imaginary axis.
- Any poles and zeroes on the imaginary axis are simple (have a multiplicity of one).
- Any poles on the imaginary axis have real strictly positive residues, and similarly at any zeroes on the imaginary axis, the function has a real strictly positive derivative.
- Over the right half plane, the minimum value of the real part of a PR function occurs on the imaginary axis (because the real part of an analytic function constitutes a harmonic function over the plane, and therefore satisfies the maximum principle).
- For a rational PR function, the number of poles and number of zeroes differ by at most one.
Generalizations
A couple of generalizations are sometimes made, with intention of characterizing the immittance functions of a wider class of passive linear electrical networks.
Irrational functions
The impedance Z(s) of a network consisting of an infinite number of components (such as a semi-infinite ladder), need not be a rational function of s, and in particular may have branch points in the left half s-plane. To accommodate such functions in the definition of PR, it is therefore necessary to relax the condition that the function be real for all real s, and only require this when s is positive. Thus, a possibly irrational function Z(s) is PR if and only if
- Z(s) is analytic in the open right half s-plane (Re[s] > 0)
- Z(s) is real when s is positive and real
- Re[Z(s)] ≥ 0 when Re[s] ≥ 0
Some authors start from this more general definition, and then particularize it to the rational case.
Matrix-valued functions
Linear electrical networks with more than one port may be described by impedance or admittance matrices. So by extending the definition of PR to matrix-valued functions, linear multi-port networks which are passive may be distinguished from those that are not. A possibly irrational matrix-valued function Z(s) is PR if and only if
- Each element of Z(s) is analytic in the open right half s-plane (Re[s] > 0)
- Each element of Z(s) is real when s is positive and real
- The Hermitian part (Z(s) + Z†(s))/2 of Z(s) is positive semi-definite when Re[s] ≥ 0
- Wilhelm Cauer (1932) The Poisson Integral for Functions with Positive Real Part, Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 38:713–7, link from Project Euclid.
- W. Cauer (1932) "Über Funktionen mit positivem Realteil", Mathematische Annalen 106: 369–94.
References
E. Cauer, W. Mathis, and R. Pauli, "Life and Work of Wilhelm Cauer (1900 – 1945)", Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Symposium of Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems (MTNS2000), Perpignan, June, 2000. Retrieved online 19 September 2008. http://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall03/cs323/links/cauer.pdf ↩
E. Cauer, W. Mathis, and R. Pauli, "Life and Work of Wilhelm Cauer (1900 – 1945)", Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Symposium of Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems (MTNS2000), Perpignan, June, 2000. Retrieved online 19 September 2008. http://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall03/cs323/links/cauer.pdf ↩
Brune, O, "Synthesis of a finite two-terminal network whose driving-point impedance is a prescribed function of frequency", Doctoral thesis, MIT, 1931. Retrieved online 3 June 2010. http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/10661/36311006.pdf?sequence=1 ↩
Bakshi, Uday; Bakshi, Ajay (2008). Network Theory. Pune: Technical Publications. ISBN 978-81-8431-402-1. 978-81-8431-402-1 ↩
Wing, Omar (2008). Classical Circuit Theory. Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-09739-8. 978-0-387-09739-8 ↩
E. Cauer, W. Mathis, and R. Pauli, "Life and Work of Wilhelm Cauer (1900 – 1945)", Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Symposium of Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems (MTNS2000), Perpignan, June, 2000. Retrieved online 19 September 2008. http://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall03/cs323/links/cauer.pdf ↩
Wing, Omar (2008). Classical Circuit Theory. Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-09739-8. 978-0-387-09739-8 ↩
Cauer, W, "Die Verwirklichung der Wechselstromwiderst ände vorgeschriebener Frequenzabh ängigkeit", Archiv für Elektrotechnik, vol 17, pp355–388, 1926. ↩
Brune, O, "Synthesis of a finite two-terminal network whose driving-point impedance is a prescribed function of frequency", Doctoral thesis, MIT, 1931. Retrieved online 3 June 2010. http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/10661/36311006.pdf?sequence=1 ↩
Brune, O, "Synthesis of a finite two-terminal network whose driving-point impedance is a prescribed function of frequency", J. Math. and Phys., vol 10, pp191–236, 1931. ↩