The arc-length variation of analytic capacity and a conformal geometry (Q4039464)

Let \(\Omega\) be a domain in the extended complex plane, and let \(H^ \infty (\Omega)\) be the Banach space of bounded analytic functions in \(\Omega\) with sup norm \(\| \cdot \|_{H^ \infty}\); for any \(\zeta \in \Omega\), let \[ c(\zeta; \Omega) = \sup \left \{\bigl | f'(\zeta) \bigr | : f \in H^ \infty (\Omega), \| f \|_{H^ \infty} \leq 1 \right\}, \] where \(f'(\infty) = \lim_{z \to \infty} z \{f(\infty) - f(z)\}\) if \(\zeta = \infty\). Then the analytic capacity of a compact set \(E\) in the plane is defined to be \(\gamma (E) = c(\infty; \Omega_ E)\), where \(\Omega_ E\) is the component of \(E^ c = C \cup \{\infty\} - E\) containing \(\infty\). The author has already studied \(\gamma (\cdot)\) in terms of integral geometry [`A real variable method for the Cauchy transform, and analytic capacity' (1988; Zbl 0645.30016)], [Pac. J. Math. 143, No. 2, 313-340 (1990; Zbl 0726.30020)] and fluid dynamics [Kodai J. 13, No. 2, 265-288 (1990; Zbl 0716.30016)]; here he looks at the variation of \(\gamma (E)\) for small changes in \(E\), for a finite union \(E\) of arcs. So, let \(E\) be a compact set consisting of a finite number of mutually disjoint arcs \(\{C_ j\}^ n_{j=1}\), where each arc \(C_ j\) is a finite union of closed analytic arcs (where a closed arc is said to be analytic if it is contained in an open analytic arc). Let \({\mathcal A}\) be the family of such compact sets, and \({\mathcal F}\) the family of domains \(\Omega\) such that \(\Omega^ c \in {\mathcal A}\). Then, for \(\Omega \in {\mathcal F}\), \textit{P. R. Garabedian} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 67, 1-35 (1949)] has shown that there exists a unique pair of functions \((g(\cdot; \Omega),\;\varphi (\cdot, \Omega))\) in \(H^ 2 (\Omega)\) such that \(g(\infty; \Omega) = 0\), \(\varphi (\infty; \Omega) = 1\) and \({1 \over i} \varphi (z; \Omega) = \overline {g(z; \Omega)} | dz |\) a.e. on \(\partial \Omega\), where the orientation of \(dz\) is chosen so that \(\Omega\) lies to the left. Now let \(K(z, \zeta; \Omega)\) and \(L(z, \zeta; \Omega)\) be the usual Szegö kernel and the \(L\)-kernel (see, for example, the book by \textit{S. Bergman} [`The kernel function and conformal mapping' (1950; Zbl 0043.084)]. Next, for \(z, \zeta \in \Omega - \{\infty\}\), \(z \neq \zeta\), the author defines \(Dc(z, \infty; \Omega) = | \varphi (z; \Omega) |^ 2 - | g(z; \Omega) |^ 2\) and \[ \begin{multlined} D^ 2 c(z, \zeta, \infty; \Omega) = 2 \text{Re} \Bigl[ \bigl\{ L(z, \zeta; \Omega) \bigr\} \overline {g(z; \Omega)} - \overline {K(z, \zeta; \Omega)} \varphi (z; \Omega) \overline {\varphi (\zeta; \Omega)} - \\ - \bigl\{ L(z, \zeta; \Omega) \bigr\} \overline {\varphi (z; \Omega)} - \overline {K(z, \zeta; \Omega)} g(z; \Omega) \overline {g( \zeta; \Omega)} \Bigr]. \end{multlined} \] Then, for a closed analytic arc \(\Gamma\), a continuous function \(w_ t \in \Gamma\) on an interval \([0, | \Gamma |]\), where \(| \Gamma |\) is the length of \(\Gamma\), is called the arc- length representation of \(\Gamma\) if \(w_ 0\), \(w_{| \Gamma |}\) are the endpoints of \(\Gamma\) and \(| \Gamma_ t | = t\) \((0 \leq t \leq | \Gamma |)\), where \(\Gamma_ t = \{w_ s : 0 \leq s \leq t\}\). For \(\Omega \in {\mathcal F}\) such that \(\Omega - \Gamma \in {\mathcal F}\) and \(\Omega^ c \cap \Gamma\) is at most a singleton, let \(\Omega_ t = \Omega - \Gamma_ t\) \((0 \leq t \leq | \Gamma |)\), and assume that \(\Omega^ c \cap \Gamma = \{w_ 0\}\) if \(\Omega^ c \cap \Gamma \neq \emptyset\). The author then proves the following results: Theorem 1: (a) For any \(0<t \leq | \Gamma |\), the derivative \(\partial c(\infty; \Omega_ t)/ \partial t\), the limit \(\lim_{u \downarrow t} Dc(w_ u, \infty; \Omega_ t)\) \((=Dc (w_ t, \infty; \Omega_ t)\), say) exist, and \(\partial c(\infty; \Omega_ t)/ \partial t = {1 \over 4} Dc(w_ t, \infty; \Omega_ t)\); the right-derivative \({\partial c (\infty; \Omega_ 0)/ \partial t}\) at \(t=0\) exists, and \(\partial c(\infty; \Omega_ t)/ \partial t\) is continuous on \([0, | \Gamma |]\). (b) For any \(0<t \leq | \Gamma |\) and any \(z \in \Omega - (\Gamma \cup \{\infty\})\), the derivative \(\partial Dc (z, \infty; \Omega_ t)/ \partial t\), the limit \(\lim_{u \downarrow t} D^ 2 c(w_ u,z, \infty; \Omega_ t)\) \((= D^ 2 c(w_ t,z, \infty; \Omega_ t)\), say) exist, and \(\partial Dc (z, \infty; \Omega_ t)/ \partial t = {1 \over 4} D^ 2 c(w_ t,z, \infty; \Omega_ t)\); for any \(z \in \Omega - (\Gamma \cup \{\infty\})\), the right-derivative \(\partial Dc (z, \infty; \Omega_ 0)/ \partial t\) at \(t=0\) exists, and \(\partial Dc (z, \infty; \Omega_ t)/ \partial t\) is continuous on \([0, | \Gamma |]\). Theorem 2: The differential forms \(Dc (z, \zeta; \Omega) | dz | | d \zeta |\) and \(D^ 2 c(w,z, \zeta; \Omega) | dw | | dz | | d \zeta |\) are conformally invariant, \(Dc(z, \zeta; \Omega) = Dc(\zeta,z; \Omega)\) and \(D^ 2 c(w,z, \zeta; \Omega)\) is invariant for any permutation of the triple \((w,z,\zeta)\). Theorem 3: If \(\Omega\) is simply- or doubly-connected, then \(D^ 2c(w,z, \zeta; \Omega) \leq 0\). (This result yields a quantitative extension of the subadditivity property of \(\gamma (\cdot)\), proved by \textit{N. Suita} [Kōdai Math. J. 7, 73-75 (1984; Zbl 0548.30018)].