The uniqueness of decomposition of a class of multivalent functions (Q1095278)

Let P be a nonconstant polynomial. A curve \(\ell\) is called a curved P- ray if there is a path \(\gamma\) from \([0,\infty)\) onto \(\ell\) such that \(\gamma\) (t)\(\to \infty\) as \(t\to \infty\), and \(P\circ \gamma\) is one-to- one. The purpose of this paper is to give a quite general sufficient condition that guarantees unique decomposition as follows. Theorem. Let f be a function analytic in \({\mathbb{B}}=\{z:| z| <1\}\) and has p-1 critical points (counting multiplicity). Suppose \(f=P\circ \phi\), where P is a polynomial of degree p and \(\phi\in S\); that is, \(\phi\) is analytic and univalent in \({\mathbb{B}}\) and satisfies \(\phi (0)=0\) and \(\phi '(0)=1\). Also, suppose that \(B=P^{-1}\{P(z):\) z is a critical point of \(P\}\), and that there is a disjoint collection W of curved p- rays \(\ell\) in \({\mathbb{C}}\setminus \phi ({\mathbb{B}})\) such that \(B\cap ({\mathbb{C}}\setminus \phi({\mathbb{B}}))\subset \cup_{\ell \in W}\ell\). If \(f=Q\circ \psi\), where Q is a polynomial of degree p and \(\psi\in S\), then Q and \(\psi\) are identical to P and \(\phi\), respectively. It is also shown that the class of functions described by the theorem contains \textit{A. E. Livingston}'s class of close-to-convex functions of order p defined in [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 115, 161-179 (1965; Zbl 0154.081)], which makes the above result stronger than that of \textit{A. Lyzzaik} [Complex Variables 3, 313-322 (1984; Zbl 0521.30016)]. Examples showing the nonuniqueness of the above decomposition, and not satisfying neither the hypotheses nor the conclusion of the theorem are also given.