A family of meromorphic univalent functions (Q1895949)

The authors consider meromorphic polynomials of degree \(n\), \(\mu (z) = {1 \over z} + \sum^n_{k = 1} a_kz^k\) with \(|a_n |= {1 \over n}\), that are univalent in the unit disk. Univalence implies that \(|n a_n |\leq 1\), with equality only if \(a_{n - 1} = 0\) and \((k - 1) a_{k - 1} = - na_n (n - k) \overline a_{n - k}\). The authors consider the families \(U_n \) of such univalent, meromorphic polynomials. They show that \(\cup^\infty_{n = 1} U_n\) is dense in the family \(U\) of functions of the form \(\mu (z) = {1 \over z} + \sum^\infty_{k = 1} a_k z^k\) that are univalent in the unit disk. Some of the theorems concern extreme points in the subclasses of \(U_n\) consisting of functions with real coefficients. There are numerous drawings that show the image of the unit disk under meromorphic polynomials. The authors also prove a conjecture of Kirwan's (that \(ka_1 - a_k \leq k)\) for typically real meromorphic functions with a simple pole of residue 1 at 0. Many of the results depend on the following theorem: Theorem. If \(\mu (z) = 1/z + \sum^{n - 2}_{k = 1} [(n - k - 1)/n] a_kz^k - (1/n) z^n\) is univalent in the unit disk, then \(\text{Re} (z \mu''(z)/ \mu'(z) + 1) = (n - 1)/2\) for each \(z (|z |= 1)\) such that \(\mu' (z) \neq 0\). Many of the results are contained in the first author's dissertation.