Riemann Surface - Definitions

Definitions

There are several equivalent definitions of a Riemann surface.

1. A Riemann surface X is a complex manifold of complex dimension one. This means that X is a Hausdorff topological space endowed with an atlas: for every point x ∈ X there is a neighbourhood containing x homeomorphic to the unit disk of the complex plane. The map carrying the structure of the complex plane to the Riemann surface is called a chart. Additionally, the transition maps between two overlapping charts are required to be holomorphic.
2. A Riemann surface is an oriented manifold of (real) dimension two – a two-sided surface – together with a conformal structure. Again, manifold means that locally at any point x of X, the space is supposed to be like the real plane. The supplement "Riemann" signifies that X is endowed with an additional structure which allows angle measurement on the manifold, namely an equivalence class of so-called Riemannian metrics. Two such metrics are considered equivalent if the angles they measure are the same. Choosing an equivalence class of metrics on X is the additional datum of the conformal structure.

A complex structure gives rise to a conformal structure by choosing the standard Euclidean metric given on the complex plane and transporting it to X by means of the charts. Showing that a conformal structure determines a complex structure is more difficult.

Further information: complex manifold and conformal geometry