A boundary version of Ahlfors' lemma, locally complete conformal metrics and conformally invariant reflection principles for analytic maps (Q2474572)

The authors establish a boundary version of Ahlfors' Lemma [\textit{L.~V.~Ahlfors}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 43, 359--364 (1938; Zbl 0018.41002 and JFM 64.0315.04)]: Boundary Ahlfors Lemma. Let \(\Gamma\) be an open subarc of the unit circle \(\partial\mathbb B\), let \(\lambda(z)| dz| \) be a regular conformal pseudo-metric on the unit disk \(\mathbb D\) with curvature bounded below by a negative constant \(-c_\lambda\) and let \(\mu(z)| dz| \) be a conformal pseudo-metric on \(\mathbb B\) with curvature bounded above by a negative constant \(-C_\mu\). If \(\lim_{z\to\xi} \lambda(z) = +\infty\), \(\forall\xi\in\Gamma,\) then \[ \lim_{z\to\xi}\inf\frac{\lambda(z)}{\mu(z)}\geq\sqrt{\frac{C_\mu}{c_\lambda}}, \quad\forall\xi\in\Gamma. \] This Lemma is used to show that the classical Schwarz-Carathéodory reflection principle for holomorphic functions can be stated in a conformally invariant way exclusively in terms of conformal Riemannian metrics. This conformally invariant reflection principle generalizes naturally to analytic maps between Riemann surfaces, contains a characterization of finite Blaschke products due to M.~Heins and the limiting case of a hyperbolic reflection principle due to Fournier and Ru\-sche\-weyh. The Boundary Ahlfors Lemma is extended to domains \(\Omega\) in the complex plane whose boundary contains a sufficiently smooth subset \(\Gamma\). This generalization is closely linked with (a very special case of) a boundary Schwarz Lemma due to Bland, in which so-called locally complete metrics play an important role. The extended boundary Ahlfors Lemma might be considered as a converse of Eland's boundary Schwarz Lemma. Combining both yields a characterization of locally complete conformal metrics \(\lambda(z)| dz| \) on smooth domains in terms of the boundary behavior of the density \(\lambda\).