Gehring-Hayman theorem for conformal deformations (Q1939567)

In this paper, the authors prove the following Gehring-Hayman theorem. Let \(Q>1\) and let \((\Omega,d,\mu)\) be a non-complete uniform space equipped with a measure that is \(Q\)-regular on balls of Whitney type. If \(\rho: \Omega\to (0,\infty)\) is a conformal density on \(\Omega\), then there is a constant \(C\geq 1\) that depends only on the data associated with \(\Omega\) and \(\rho\) such that \[ \ell_\rho([x,y])\leq C\ell_\rho(\gamma), \] whenever \([x,y]\) is a quasihyperbolic geodesic and \(\gamma\) is a curve joining \(x\) to \(y\) in \(\Omega\). The novelty in contrast to earlier versions of this theorem is the absence of lower bounds for the \(Q\)-modulus for certain path families in the assumptions. In what follows, I give the definitions of the concepts in the result. Given a real number \(D\geq 1\), a curve \(\gamma: [a,b]\to (\Omega,d)\) is called a \(D\)-uniform curve if it is quasiconvex: \[ \ell_d(\gamma)\leq Dd(\gamma(a),\gamma(b)), \] and \[ \min\{\ell_d(\gamma\mid_{[a,t]}),\ell_d(\gamma\mid_{[t,b]})\}\leq Dd(\gamma(t)) \] for every \(t\in [a,b]\), where \(d(z)\) is the distance of \(z\in \Omega\) to the boundary of \(\Omega\). A metric space \((\Omega,d)\) is called a \(D\)-uniform space if every pair of points in it can be joined by a \(D\)-uniform curve. A measure \(\mu\) is said to be \(Q\)-regular on balls of Whitney type for some \(Q>1\) if there is a constant \(C\geq 1\) such that if \(r\leq d(z)/2\), then \[ C^{-1}r^Q\leq \mu(B(z,r))\leq C r^Q. \] If \(\mu\) is a Borel regular measure on \((\Omega,d)\) with dense support, we call \(\rho\) a conformal density provided it satisfies both a Harnack type inequality for some constant \(A\geq 1\): \[ \frac{1}{A}\leq \frac{\rho(x)}{\rho(y)}\leq A,\quad \text{for all \(x,\, y\in B(z,d(z)/2)\) and all \(z\in \Omega\)}, \] and a volume growth condition for some constant \(B>0\): \[ \mu_\rho(B_\rho(z,r))\leq Br^Q\quad \text{for all \(z\in \Omega\) and \(r>0\)}, \] where \[ \mu_\rho(B_\rho(z,r))=\int_{B_\rho(z,r)}\rho^Q\, d\mu. \] The symbol \(\ell_\rho(\gamma)\) is called the \(\rho\)-length of a rectifiable curve \(\gamma\) in \(\Omega\) defined by \[ \ell_\rho(\gamma)=\int_\gamma \rho\, ds. \] Finally, a quasihyperbolic geodesic is a geodesic with respect to the metric induced by the conformal density \(1/d(z)\).