Interplay between Loewner and Dirichlet energies via conformal welding and flow-lines (Q2309488)

The authors of the paper describe cutting and welding operations on finite Dirichlet energy functions in the plane. The Loewner energy \(I^L(\eta)\) of a Jordan curve \(\eta\) in \(\hat{\mathbb C}=\mathbb C\cup\{\infty\}\) is the Dirichlet energy of a real-valued continuous function on \(\mathbb R\) called the Loewner driving term in the Loewner equation generating \(\eta\). If \(\eta\) passes through \(\infty\), then \[I^L(\eta)=\frac{1}{\pi}\int_{\mathbb H}|\nabla\log|f'||^2dz^2+\frac{1}{\pi}\int_{\mathbb H^*}|\nabla\log|g'||^2dz^2,\] where \(f\) and \(g\) map conformally the upper and lower half-planes \(\mathbb H\) and \(\mathbb H^*\) onto, respectively, \(H\) and \(H^*\), the two components of \(\mathbb C\setminus\eta\), while fixing \(\infty\). Here \(dz^2\) denotes the two-dimensional Lebesgue measure. Let \(\mathcal E(\Omega)\) be the space of real functions on a domain \(\Omega\subset\mathbb C\) with weak first derivatives in \(L^2(\Omega)\). Define the Dirichlet energy of \(\varphi\in\mathcal E(\Omega)\) by \[\mathcal D_{\Omega}(\varphi)=\frac{1}{\pi}\int_{\Omega}|\nabla\varphi|^2dz^2.\] The cutting operation is characterized by the following theorem. Theorem 1.1. Suppose \(\eta\) is a Jordan curve through \(\infty\), let \(f\) and \(g\) be conformal maps associated to \(\eta\) as above, and suppose \(\varphi\in\mathcal E(\mathbb C)\) is given. Then \(\mathcal D_{\mathbb C}(\varphi)+I^L(\eta)=\mathcal D_{\mathbb H}(u)+\mathcal D_{\mathbb H^*}(v),\) where \(u=\varphi\circ f+\log|f'|\) and \(v=\varphi\circ g+\log|g'|\). An increasing homeomorphism \(h:\mathbb R\to\mathbb R\) is a conformal welding homeomorphism if there is a Jordan curve \(\eta\) through \(\infty\) and conformal maps \(f,g\) of \(\mathbb H\) and \(\mathbb H^*\) onto the two components of \(\mathbb C\setminus\eta\), respectively, such that \(h=g^{-1}\circ f|_{\mathbb R}\). Suppose \(\mathbb H\) and \(\mathbb H^*\) are each equipped with a boundary measure with a distance between \(x<y\) by the measure of \([x,y]\). If a welding homeomorphism \(h\) fixing 0 is the isometry, then \(h\) is an isometric welding homeomorphism and the tuple \((\eta,f,g)\) is a solution to the isometric welding problem for the given measures. The isometric conformal welding is described in the next theorem. Theorem 1.2. Suppose \(u\in\mathcal E(\mathbb H)\) and \(v\in\mathcal E(\mathbb H^*)\) are given. The isometric welding problem for the measures \(e^udx\) and \(e^vdx\) has a solution \((\eta,f,g)\) and the welding curve \(\eta\) has finite Loewner energy. Moreover, there exists a unique \(\varphi\in\mathcal E(\mathbb C)\) such that the equalities of Theorem 1.1 are satisfied. Write \(\mathcal P(\tau)\) for the harmonic extension of \(\tau=\arg\eta'\) to \(\mathbb C\setminus\eta\) on both sides. Consider a vector field \(X(z)=e^{i\varphi(z)}\) on \(\mathbb C\). A flow-line of \(X\) through a point \(z_0\in\mathbb C\) is a solution to the differential equation \[\dot\eta(t)=X(\eta(t)),\;\;\;t\in(-\infty,\infty),\;\;\;\eta(0)=z_0.\] The flow line identity appears in the following theorem. Theorem 1.4. Let \(\varphi\in\mathcal E(\mathbb C)\cap C^0(\hat{\mathbb C})\). Any flow line \(\eta\) of the vector field \(e^{i\varphi}\) is a Jordan curve through \(\infty\) with finite Loewner energy and we have the formula \(\mathcal D_{\mathbb C}(\varphi)=I^L(\eta)+\mathcal D_{\mathbb C}(\varphi_0)\), where \(\varphi_0=\varphi-\mathcal P[\varphi|_{\eta}]\).