TRANSFINITE RESISTIVE NETWORKS
A .H.Zemanian
State University of New York at Stony Brook
Stony Brook, N.Y. 11794-2350
Telephone: 516632-839318400
Abstract
Tratisfiiiile electricd iielworks arc iiifiuite wlworks iii which soiiie of
the nodes are connected 1i.v iiifiitite paths hut not by finite ones. Such
networhs aiise natriially hs rertaiii transitional cases betwen lumped
and clistributed iietworhs, Iiut up till iiow neither a definition nor a
ftiiiilaiueiital theooly existed for them. After the structure of such
aetworhs is esplicated. soiiie fouiidatioiial theoreins for the existence
of uuicpe voltage-ciirrait i e g i i i i e h i n rebistive iiifiiiite rietworks are
st atcd.
1 INTRODUCTION
The itlea of a traiisfuite eleclricnl network is new ill circiiit theory. It
was fir<( i i i t i o d i i c c 4 i n b2] Cor raacade striictiires. For arbitrary resis-
tive networks a complete set of definitions and a fiinclaineiitaltlieory
is given i n [J). One reason w h y this concept is iinportant in circuit
tlieoiy is ( l i e Mlowing. Iiiliiiite electrical networks occiir naturally
b fiiiitr.dillhciicr arid finjtt~-clr~iiicut
as r i ~ ~ d e lor approsiuialiwis ol
variotts partial differential eciitation.; (1, Sertiou SI. hIoreaver, if the
niedium is auitably anisotropic. tlie infinite extreiiiities of the network
become perceptible to measiircnients within the network; in this re-
gard, see [RI. This iiieaiis that resistive lowls can be coiiiiected to
the network at infinitj. a d those loads will afFect the voltage-current
regiiiie of the network. However, if resistive loads can be connected
at iiilinity. SO loo caii othw electrical itetworks. Tlius, we arrive a t
transfinite networks, which are charartrrized by the fact that two
iiodcs iiiag be toniiectcd by an infinite path but iiot necessarily by a
finite path. 111) to now, all tlieorirs of infiiite iietworks reqnired that
a pair of nodes be connected by a finite path if they are conuected
at all.
The objectives of lhis paper a r c to dcliiie traiisliuite resistive net-
works aiid to state soiiie loriiidatioiial tlicoreiiis about the existence
of unique voltage-corrciit reginics for tlirm.
2 TRANSFINITE GRAPHS
Coiisider t.he iiifi1iit.e grid of Figiire 1. How does one specify coiiiiec-
tioiis lo it. a t iiifiiiit.g? C!ert,a.iiily,a st.rict,ly horizontal (or vertical)
pa.tli is O W wa.y of approaching infinity. nut., how a.bout a path that
spirals oiit.ward indefinitely or iitore getierally waiiders in soiiie a.r-
bi1.rary lasliiori out towa.rd iiifiiiity? D o (.hey a.lso a,pproacli a. place
where a. coiiiiectioii can be iiiadc'? More precisely. just. as a. loop cur-
rent follows sonic pa.th bcforc closing oil i tself. ca.11 a. current, follow
aloiig a. 1iiea.iideriugpath out. to infinity and theii pa.ss beyolid iiilin-
i1.y iiito say aaotlicr irifiitit.egrid a.Ioiig soiiie pa.t,h in that other grid?
The answer is yes if t.he Iwa.nch resista.nces suiii to a, fiiiite aiiiouiit
dong the overall finii.sfitrifc pa.111. It is wlieii siicli a current closes on
itself afkr passiiig through iiia.ny (possil,ly a,ii inli1iit.g of) tliKerent
itiliiiite iietivorks tliroiigh coiutt4oiis I)el.wtwi t.hosc iiet,works tha,t
we obtaiu a h ~ ~ v j i ~IOO~J / i / rcurrelit.
M'P iiwd 1.0 vsplicate tlic~scIicvirist.ic. itlws i i i ( j r c prer
ordiimry graph will iiow be ca.llctl a. 0-grrqdi N" , t1ia.t. is. i
(B,.kh).wlirrc. L< is a sct of hraiiclies atid ,4.5 is a set of ordina.ry
notles. called iiow 0-nodrs. B a.nd A$ are required to be either finire
or coutit,a.bly iufinitc.
A O - p t t h is a fi1iit.e. one-ended. or enclless pa.t,liin the iisual sense;
t1ia.t is. it is liiiilely couicc.ct.d. A O - h p i s ail ordinary loop. that is,
C H 2 8 6 8 - ~ ~ 1 1 .001930
a finite path except that it closes 011 itsdl.
Two nodes 01 two braiiclics i n a gibcii 0-network are qaid to be
0-corrtirctcdif there is a fiiiite 0-path roiii&iing thein. A 0 - ~ c c f i o tisi
a sulmetnork induced I)y a iiiaxiiual set of biaiiches that are pairwise
0-collllccted.
The infinite grid of Vigrrica I is an example of a single 0-section.
Howcvc-r, we ran get iiiaiiy 0-sections I n coiiiiecling iiiaiiy iitfiiiite
gricls togetliet as is indicated in Figuie 2. To do so, we u u s t Brst de-
h i e what we iiieaii by a 0-lip. We partilion all the one-ended 0-paths
iii N" iitto eqitivaleiice rlasres where any t a o 0-paths in oiie such rlass
differ by no iiiore than a fiiiite uumbei of nodes aiitl branches. Soch
an eqiiivaleiicr clas3 is called a 0-lg; it is to these 0-tips that we
iiiakc 0111 "ronncctioiis at iiifiiiity".
A I - t w h 11' i h a finite 01 infinite set of tlir form
having at 1ch.t two nicmbcrs, where lhr ton2 are 0-tips aiid ng is a.
0-node; nia,y be a.bseitt. a.iicl 011 the other Iia.iid [io inore tliaii oiie
0-iiotle is a.llowetl. It. is also required t1iu.t.dilferent. 1-nodeshave void
ii Ikrscc 1.ioiis.
A I-grrtph N1 is a. triplet, (f3..G,.-k'1), where B and A(" are as
before a.iid .krl is a. set of I-iiodes. For cxa.iitple, iii Figure 2 consider
the horizoiita.1ou~--eiitletl0-1)iit.h whose branches are 0 , b, ...; Pp
is a reprt.seiita.tive of a 0-tip ty a.nd iiideed specifies ty. Similarly.
the horizontal one-ended U-path .
with tlie branches ct,/3,. . spec-
ifies aiiotIier @tip tq. If a I-notIe U' is spwified as having ip a i d
t i as riienihers, it is iiiiderstootl that the rriit.er-ruost 0-section in
that figure is shorted to t.Iic O-sert.iou oii it,s riglit t hroiigh n.'; iiiore-
o v w . a riirreiit, rii.ii llow along 1 . 1 1 ~I ra.tisAnit.epa.t.li wit.lr the branrhrs
r i , h . . . . , / j . n i f t.lic resintaiirc- values a.loiig t.liat pa.t.li lmve a. fiitite
suiii. r\ct.riaIIy. t(: wed iiot IN sliortetl t.o f: anel iiiag iiistca.tI be
shorted to n m i y otlicr 0-tips, possibly, to oiie that is specified by a.
spiraling 0-pat.11 i n some 0-scd.ion far away. It iiiay also be shorted
t.0 OIW ( h ~ i 011ly t 0 1 1 ~ )O-~iodea.iiy\vlierc i l l all.
A I - p / h PI is an all.eriiat.ingsequencr
P' = { .... n!,,. q8./(,,+i. . .}
wliick iiiav or n1a.y iiol. t.ertiiiitale lo tlw left or t.o tlie riglit. The
indices t,ravcrse tio iiiorc t,lian t.lw iiitegrrs. The I I ! , ~ are 1-nodes.
If the seqiieiire leriiiiiiates. it does so at, eit.lier a U-notle or a I-node.
The w e 0-palhs t.ltat iiirel. the a~tlja.wil.noderj with either a U-
l i p or a. 0-11ocIr.h h x i v e r . any ~ - i i w I (t1ia.t
~ a.ppears iii P$>does 1101
a.ppcar i i i ii.1t>'ot,ItcrP:, iior tloes it. a.ppear ili aiiy n: for JI # J J I . m + l .
Sitiiila.rly. a.11 the 1-iiodes are distilwt. lit ot her words. a tracing along
P' does i w t . iwet it.scIf t.wice at ally ~-trotIc.or L-itode.
Foor inst.a.iice.the nl'oreriieiit ioiied tra.iisfiiiitepa.lli with tlie bra.nch-
es (1, b, . . ,,d. (1 is t.lre R i i i k I-pail1
where $ 2 , (or V I < +) is the 0-node t.o the left of I)ra.nch (1 (respectively,
to the right of branch CY), Pi' (or e) is the one-ended 0-path with
branches ( I , b: . . . (respect,ively,n,/3,. . . tra.versedin the reverse tlirec-
tioii). and / t i = {t(,',t:}. A I-loop is a. fini1.e 1 - p d i except that. its
first a d last iiodcs arr eitlicr the sa.~iic--orone iiotlc c t ~ i b m c c s(i.e.,
con t.:i.iiis ) t.lic othcr .
We sa,y t.ltat two iiodcs or two lira,iiclirs arc I-rortrtcctd i l there;
is a. finite l - p a t h frribrviring t.liem. that is. t,liey apprw as elenients
0 IEEE
of 1 . 1 ~1-path or as cleincnls of the eleiiients of the 1-patb. Also, Cg,c,w, for all v,w E V . Standard arguments show that V is
a, I-sccfioii is a subnetwork induced by a, niasiiiial set of branches coii~plctea n d therefore a Hilbert space. The conductnticc ojwotor G
t1ia.t a.re pa.irwise I-connectecl. Tlius, all of the network of Figure 2 of Nkassigns to each v E V the current vector (gowu, g ~VI, , gz, Q . . . .).
is a, siiigle 1-sect.ion Iwittg an infinity of O-sec.tions, ea,cli of which is IIere is the fundamcntd cxistcncc and uniqucncss theorein for
iiitlica.ted by a cotit.iguons set or solid lines. the dual approach to k-networks.
TIi~sc~ tlrlinitions caii be extended recursively to obt.ain k-gmyhs Theoir7u 1. Le1 h satisfy C'oiidilioii 11. Then, tliere exists a uiique
N'
. wliere X. is a . ~ yItiit,iird iurinbc~ror iiiorc geuerally a.ny transfi- v E U snch that
nite coiint.ahIr orcliiial. Hrea.use of space' lin\it,a.t,ions,we have nierelj (w,h - Gv)= 0 (2)
surveyed soiiie h s i e ilefinil.ions. A coniplrt.e se(.of clefinitions stated
with all f . 1 1 ~rigorously iierded det.ail i s given i n [?I. for every w E V .

3 A CURRENT ANALYSIS 5 THE EQUIVALENCE OF THE DUAL AP-

llere a.re soinc definitions aid results conreriling the trruisfiiiite net-
work's voI(.agr-currrii( rrgiuw. It. is basc~lU ~ J O I Ia citrrciit nidysis.
WP ~ S S I I I I I Pt h t w e ham: a.t hand a. k-nrttiwk, t1ia.t is. a k-graplt
whosr I>riI.iicb(~scomprise a coutil~al)leset, a.tid are resist.ances with
sourccs possil)ly includrcl. Siiictl t,lie nct.work is couiit,al)le, we ca.n
index a.11 t h hranches by tlic natural numbers j = 0. I, 2,. . . alone.
Y wit,liout limits of sniiiiiiatioii will always mean a snmma.tion over
all thc j. t1ia.t is, CTi0. Assiinir for iiow t.Iiat each I)ra.iich is in it.s
Theveuin's eqiiivaleut Coriii as indica.t.eclin Figure 3. W e shall impose
C.'oiidiiioii I?. c j y j < 'XI
.
i = ( i o , i l . i l , . .) IS the vector of all braach currents, v =
.
( t:o.u1. ~ 2 . . .) is tlir vector of all branch volt,agcs,a,nd e = ( cu, r l , cz,
.. .) is tlir vector of all branch vohage soiirces. R is the opera.t.ort.1ia.t
a.ssigris to cacli i t.lic veet.or ( ruio.r l i l , 1'2. i a . . . .) of a.ll volt.age drops
across t lip r,j iueasrirrrl in tlic cliicct.ion of t lie branch orient,ations.
We tlcfi iir a pairiiig I)ct.wrru a.iiy volt,a.gevector v a.nd any cu rreiit,
vector i by (v,i)= i ~ j i j .
t~eno~cs the space or all i for which +, < m. The 1iiiea.r
opera.tions are delinetl I)ra.iicliwise. hlorrwver, we define a.n inner
product by (i.s) = r,i,;.q,,. This iiiakcs Z into a. Hilbert space,
it,s coinplctcness being proven i o a sta.iida.rd way. Now, assign to
every p-loop a n orienl~a.tioii.A plooji rtit'ir / & / is a. cont;l.ii.nt.current.
restricted t.0 tltc 1)ranchesof t.he ploop and following t.he orientation
of the gloop. That. loop current. will be i i i Z if and oiily if r,j < 00,
in wliich case we sag t.1ia.t the loop is ~ ~ i r c p ~ i bKO k . is the span
of all percept.il)lc p-loop c u r r e i t ~for .
. ~ a.ll 11 = 0. 1, . . . P. K denotes
(.lie c l o s u r ~of K O i n Z aiid is a I[ill)crt space under t,Iie sanie inner
prod i t c t..
Tlic I'ollowing fiiiitlaiuriit.alt.lieorcnis a.re proveti in [?I. Equation
( 1 ) a i d ( 2 ) a.rc*a. geti(~ri1lizetllornis of 'I'ellegeti's equa,l.ion.
Throrr 1 1 ) 1. IT t.he volt.age-source vector e of a given k-net.work
sat,islics ('oiitlitioti E, tlieti i,lirrc rsist.ti a nriiqtie i E A siieli t1ia.t.
PROACHES
Actually, a voltage aoalysis and a current analysis as specified by the
prior two tlieoreiiis yield precisely the sallie voltage-current regime.
T/tcoirm 3. Let i be dictated by Theorein 1 and set v = Ri - e.
Thcn. v is the uuiquc mc~nberof V spcci tied by Thcorcnl 2.
Z%coirm 4. Let v be dictated by Tlicoreni 2 antl set i = G v - h.
Tlien, i is the uniqiie inember of Z specified by Tileorein 1.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the Nalioilal Science Foundation under
antl hflPsX22iiJ.
Grants DA~IS-8r,'21~24
References
[I] A.II.Zeinanian, Infinite electrical networks: A reprise, fEEE
TIYC~M. . ~ 1 ) .13'16-1358,1988.
C'itrtttlc c t t d S y + f ~ t / t s~. 0 135.
121 A.fI.Zeinaiiian, Ttrtttsjiritfc C(tscciclr.\. C'EAS Technical Report
522. State University of New Sork at Stony Brooh, duly G, 1988.
(4)A.II.Zeiiiaiiiaii. Bozrndrrry Co/irhfrotis crt Itijfr'laifyfor n Discretc
Form o/ K' . ( o r @ )= cl@, o 2 0, C'EAS Teclinical Report 523,
Slale IJiii~cihityof New Yoih a t Stouy Brook, August 2, 1988.
[J] A.IL.Zeinaninn. IIiriiihfirirfc Gmphs rriicl Elcrfnccil Nrtu~orks,
('EAS 'I'eelunical Heport 5%). State Irniversily or New York at
Stony Brooh, No\eiubcr 18. 1988.

(e- Ni. s) = 0 (1)

I l t l l l

for every s E A'.

4 A VOLTAGE ANALYSIS
Tlie I)raiicIies of t.hc I.-iictwork N" a.re now assumecl t,o be in their
Nort.oii's cqttivalcnt form as s11own in Figiirc -1; h j is a real nuinber
atid y,) = I / V , ~is a positivc ounil~cr. 11 = ( h 0 , h l . h z . ...) dcnotcs the
I>ra.iicIiciirreiil-soiirce vcclor. We sliall a~siiinet1ia.t. h sa.tisfies
C'oiidi/ioit 15 h:r; < rx
'l'liis iseclriivalent. to ('ontlitioii E because / / ; v , ~= E(/,J. r3. ) zgj-.- 1 1 1 1 1 1
Given h, we sea.rch for a. solution for the voltage vector v
tig another gciicrilisrd Tortu of Telleggen's equat.ion ( s c r ( 2 )
below). TIiiiI vector is required 1.0 be also of Riiite power and to
sa i.isTy liirclilio~l'svolt.agv lii.\v a . r o i t ~ i dprrcty)l~il)lc/)-loops. The last Flgure 1
t.wo propcrt irs arr riisurctl by requiring t.lie vo1ta.g~vector to be a.
nieiiil~crof 1 lit. spa.ce U. wliicli is the space of all v = (.UO,VI, 2 9 , . . .)
such t,Iia.t t*,:g,; < cc and (v..) = tvj.q, = 0 ror all s E KO.
This last. contlit.ion insures t1ia.t Iiircliliof€"svolt.a.ge 1a.w is satisfied
a.roirud every pc*rccptiI)leq-loop 0 5 (I 5 k . The linear opcrat.ions a.re
dcftiictl oii V bra.iiehwisc. We assigii 1.0 V t,hc inncr I?roduct. (v,w ) =

1737
 Figure 2.

r.
- ej + J

Figure 3.

Figure 4.

1738