Conformal extension of metrics of negative curvature (Q1880930)

Let \(ds^*\) be the complete hyperbolic metric on the punctured disk \(\mathbb{D}^*= \mathbb{D}\setminus\{0\}\), and let \(R\) be a region in \(\mathbb{D}\) which contains \(0\). The author considers the problem of extending \(ds^*\) from \(\mathbb{D}\setminus R\) to a conformal metric of negative curvature in \(\mathbb{D}\). A necessary condition for existence of such an extension comes from the Gauss-Bonnet theorem. When \(R= \{|z|< r\}\), the condition takes the form \(\log r>-1\) and is shown to be sufficient as well; certain bounds for the curvature of such an extension are found. In the general situation the Gauss-Bonnet condition is no longer sufficient, even when the conformality condition is dropped, which is demonstrated by several ingeresting examples.