Quasisymmetric rigidity of square Sierpiński carpets (Q1947639)

The paper under review studies quasisymmetric mappings between Sierpiński carpets \(S_p\) for \(p\geq 3\) odd, and describes how rigid they must be. It is shown that every quasisymmetric self-mapping of \(S_3\) is a Euclidean isometry; for \(p\geq 3\) the group of quasisymmetric mappings of \(S_p\) is finite dihedral; and that there is a quasisymmetric mapping between \(S_p\) and \(S_q\) only if \(p=q\). The authors achieve their results by introducing a new invariant for carpets that is preserved under quasisymmetric mappings, the carpet modulus. This is a particular modulus of path families. Also proved is a rigidity result for carpets contined in cylinders: every quasisymmetric mapping between such carpets must be a linear mapping.