Analytic capacity and quasiconformal mappings with \(W^{1,2}\) Beltrami coefficient (Q2518161)

A Beltrami coefficient is a measurable function \(\mu\), \(\|\mu\|_{\infty}<1\). Given an open set \(\Omega\subset\mathbb C\), \(f:\Omega\to\mathbb C\) is called \(\mu\)-quasiregular if it belongs to the Sobolev space \(W^{1,2}_{loc}(\Omega)\) and satisfies the Beltrami equation \[ \overline{\partial}f(z)=\mu\partial f(z) \] a.e. in \(\Omega\). If moreover \(f\) is a homeomorphism, then \(f\) is \(\mu\)-quasiconformal. Let \(\gamma(E)\) denote the analytic capacity of a compact set \(E\). For an arbitrary set \(A\subset\mathbb C\), \[ \gamma(A)=\sup_{E\subset A}\gamma(E), \] where the supremum is taken over compact subsets \(E\) of \(A\). The main result is given in Theorem 1: Let \(\mu\in W^{1,2}(\mathbb C)\) be a compactly supported Beltrami coefficient, and let \(\phi:\mathbb C\to\mathbb C\) be a \(\mu\)-quasiconformal mapping. Then \(\gamma(E)=0\) iff \(\gamma(\phi(E))=0\) for any compact set \(E\). Corollary 2: Let \(\mu\in W^{1,2}\) be a compactly supported Beltrami coefficient. Then, a compact set \(E\) is removable for bounded \(\mu\)-quasiregular mappings iff \(\gamma(E)=0\). For the proof of Theorem 1, the main tool is Theorem 3: Given \(E,F\subset\mathbb C\), let \(\phi: E\to F\) be a bilipschitz homeomorphism. That is, there exists \(L>0\) such that \[ \frac{1}{L}|z-w|\leq|\phi(z)-\phi(w)|\leq L|z-w| \] whenever \(z,w\in E\). Then there exists some constant \(C\) depending only on \(L\) such that \[ \frac{1}{C}\gamma(F)\leq\gamma(E)\leq C\gamma(F). \]