The strong form of Ahlfors' lemma (Q1093040)

Ahlfors established a fundamental extension of Schwarz' lemma which plays an important role in geometric function theory. This result asserts that if \(\lambda_ X(z)| dz|\) is the hyperbolic metric on a hyperbolic Riemann surface X and \(\rho\) (z)\(| dz|\) is an ultrahyperbolic metric on X, then \(\rho (z)\leq \lambda_ X(z)\) for all \(z\in X\). The proof of this result is remarkably simple. M. Heins showed that this inequality extends to the larger class of SK metrics on X and that equality at a single point implies \(\rho =\lambda_ x\). His proof of the equality statement is non-elementary in that it involves an integral representation for a solution of the nonlinear partial differential equation \(\Delta u=\exp (2u)\). In this paper the author presents an elementary proof of the equality statement in Ahlfors' lemma for SK metrics. Recently, \textit{H. L. Royden} [J. Anal. Math. 46, 261-270 (1986; Zbl 0604.30027)] gave another proof of the sharp form of Ahlfors' lemma.