The minimal norm property for quadratic differentials in the disk. (Q1371325)

Let \(QS\) be the space of all quasisymmetric homeomorphisms \(f\) of the unit circle and \(A\) the space of all integrable holomorphic functions \(\varphi\) in the unit disk. By a theorem of \textit{K. Strebel} [Ann. Acad. Sci. Fenn., Ser. A I 18, No. 1, 155--190 (1993; Zbl 0783.30019)] there is a height mapping \(H_f\) from \(A\) onto \(A.\) For \(\varphi\) in \(A,\) \(\psi=H_f(\varphi)\) is uniquely characterized by the condition that \[ \inf_{\alpha} \int_a^b I\Im(\varphi^{1/2}(z)\,dz)| = \inf_{\beta} \int_{f(a)}^{f(b)} | \Im(\psi^{1/2}(z)\,dz)| , \] where the infimum on the left side is taken over all curves \(\alpha\) in the unit disk joining \(a\) to \(b\) and the infimum on the right side is taken over all curves \(\beta\) in the unit disk joining \(f(a)\) to \(f(b).\) This paper deals primarily with questions concerning the joint continuity of the map \((f,\varphi) \mapsto H_f(\varphi)\) from \(QS \times A\) into \(A.\) To make these questions precise, one must first specify topologies on \(QS\) and \(A.\) Each of these spaces has a strong and a weak topology. One defines the quasisymmetric norm of \(f\) to be \[ \text{norm}_{qs}(f) = \sup \left| \frac{f(e^{i(x+t)})-f(e^{ix})} {f(e^{ix})-f(e^{i(x-t)})}\right| , \] where the supremum is taken over all real numbers \(x\) and \(t\) with \(0<t<\frac{\pi}{2}.\) The strong topology on \(QS\) is the so-called quasisymmetric topology. A mapping \(f\) is in an \(\epsilon\)-neighorhood of the identity if it is \(\epsilon\)-near to the identity in the supremum norm and if \(\text{norm}_{qs}(f)< \epsilon.\) This determines the strong topology by defining \(f\) to be near \(g\) if \(f \circ g^{-1}\) is near the identity. The weak topology on \(QS\) is merely the topology determined by the uniform norm on \(f\) and \(f^{-1}.\) A basic fact about the relationship between these topologies is the following weak compactness principle. If a sequence \(f_n\) of elements of \(QS\) has bounded quasisymmetric norm, then it necessarily has a subsequence which converges in the weak topology to an element of \(QS\) and any weak limit \(f\) of this sequence must have quasisymmetric norm bounded by the limit superior of the quasisymmetric norms of the homeomorphisms \(f_n.\) The norm of an element \(\varphi\) in \(A\) is given by \(| | \varphi| | =\iint_{| z| <1} | \varphi(z)| \,dx \,dy.\) The strong topology on \(A\) is merely the topology induced by this norm and the weak topology is the topology of uniform convergence on compact subsets. Of course, there is a weak compactness principle for bounded sets in \(A\) parallel to the weak compactness principle for bounded sets in \(QS.\) Any bounded sequence \(\varphi_n\) in \(A\) has a subsequence which converges uniformly on compact subsets to an element \(\varphi\) in \(A\) and \(| | \varphi| | \) is bounded by the limit superior of the norms \(| | \varphi_n| | .\) Lakic obtains the following results: \((f,\varphi) \mapsto H_f(\varphi)\) is continuous for the weak topologies on \(QS\) and \(A,\) \((f,\varphi) \mapsto H_f(\varphi)\) is continuous for the strong topologies on \(QS\) and \(A,\) there is a minimum norm principle for comparing norms of general measured foliations in the unit disk to norms of measured foliations of the form \(| dv| =| \Im(\varphi^{1/2}(z)\,dz)| ,\) where \(\varphi \in A,\) for fixed \(\varphi\) heights function \(\log | | H_f(\varphi)| | \) viewed as a function of the Teichmüller parameter \([f]\) is differentiable with derivative \(\varphi/| | \varphi| | ,\) and the derivative is continuous, the minimal maximal dilatation \(K_0([f])=\inf_{\tilde{f}} K(\tilde{f})\) of all quasiconformal extensions \(\tilde{f}\) of \(f\) is equal to the supremum over \(| | \varphi| | =1\) of \(| | H_f(\varphi)| | /| | \varphi| | ,\) this supremum is realized if, and only if, \(f\) has a Teichmüller representative, \(\varphi_n\) is strictly degenerating if, and only if, \(H_f(\varphi_n)\) is strictly degenerating, and the boundary dilatation of the Teichmüller class of \(f\) is equal to the supremum over all degenerating sequences \(\{\varphi_n\}\) of the limits superior of the quantities \(| | H_f(\varphi_n)| | /| | \varphi_n| | .\)