On isometries of conformally invariant metrics (Q282793)

Given a subdomain \(D\subset \mathbb{R}^n\) whose complement in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) has at least two points, we look at the following metric space. First \(\lambda_D(x,y)\) is considered. It is defined by taking the infimum of the modulus of all pairs of curves \(C_x\) and \(C_y\) in \(D\) that connect \(x\) and \(y\) to the boundary, respectively. Then \((D, \lambda_D^{1/(1-n)})\) is a metric space. If \(f: D\to f(D)\) satisfies \[ \lambda_D(x,y)=\lambda_{f(D)}(f(x),f(y)) \] for all \(x\) and \(y\) in \(D\), then we say that \(f\) is a \(\lambda\)-isometry (note that this definition makes sense also when \(\lambda_D^{1/(1-n)}\) is not a metric). \textit{J. Ferrand} et al. [J. Anal. Math. 56, 187--210 (1991; Zbl 0758.30018)] conjectured that a \(\lambda\)-isometry is always conformal for general proper subdomains of~\(\mathbb{R}^n\). The authors of the paper under review prove a weaker version of the conjecture and prove it in a special case. More precisely, they prove that a homeomorphic \(\lambda\)-isometry is quasiconformal by providing an upper bound on the linear dilatation of~\(f\). In case \(D=\mathbb{R}^n\setminus \{z_0\}\) for some \(z_0\in \mathbb{R}^n\), the authors prove that any corresponding \(\lambda\)-isometry is in fact a Möbius transformation.