No label defined (Q4497401)

\(\Omega\) is to be a plane domain with at least two boundary points, \(M(\Omega)\) the space of \(L^\infty\) Beltrami coefficients on \(\Omega\) with \(\|\mu\|_\infty<1\). It is assumed that each \(\mu\) is extended to the plane to be zero outside of \(\Omega\). Then each \(\mu\) determining a solution \(f^\mu\) of the Beltrami equation \[ f_{\overline z} =\mu f_z \] unique up to conformal mappings of the plane, called the induced map. The Teichmüller space \(T(\Omega)\) is a space of equivalence classes of \(M(\Omega)\); equivalence is defined in terms of the appropriate relation of induced maps by conformal mapping and isotopy. An equivalence class \([\mu]\) always contains an external element \(\mu_0\) with \[ \|\mu_0\|_\infty\leq \|\mu\|_\infty \] for all equivalent \(\mu\). \(k_0([\mu])\) is defined to be \(\|\mu\|_\infty\). The dilation \(K_0([\mu])\) is defined as \(\frac{1+k_0([\mu])}{1-k_0([\mu])}\). For any \(\mu\), \(h^*(\mu)\) is defined as the greatest lower bound of the essential least upper bound of \(\mu(z)\) for \(z\in\Omega-F\), \(F\) a compact subset of \(\Omega\). The boundary dilation of \(\mu\) and the class \(\tau=[\mu]\) are defined as \[ H^*(\mu)=\frac{1+h^*(\mu)}{1-h^*(\mu)} \quad \text{and}\quad H(\tau)=\frac{1+h^\bullet(\tau)}{1-h^\bullet(\tau)} \] with \(h_{(\tau)}\) as the greatest lower bound of \(h^*(\mu)\) for all \(\mu\) in \(\tau\). Evidently \(h(\tau)\leq k_0(\tau)\) in a similar manner local boundary dilations are defined for \(\mu\) and \(\tau\) involving quantities \(h^*_p(\mu)\), \(h_p(\tau)\) and \[ H^*_p =\frac{1+h_p(\tau)}{1-h_p(\gamma)}\quad\text{and}\quad H_p(\tau)={1+h_p(\tau)\over 1-h_p(\tau)}. \] Let \(A(\Omega)\) be the space of \(L'\) holomorphic differentials \(\varphi\) on \(\Omega\) with norm \(\|\varphi\|=(\int_{\Omega}|\varphi(z)|dA\), Beltrami coefficients \(\mu_1\), \(\mu_2\) are said to be linearly equivalent if \[ \iint_\Omega \mu_1(z)\varphi(z)dA=\iint_\Omega \mu_2(z)\varphi(z)dA \] for all \(\varphi\) in \(A(\Omega)\). \(Z(\Omega)\) is to be the dual space of \(A(\Omega)\). If \(v\in Z(\Omega)\) a Beltrami coefficient \(\mu\) is said to represent \(v\) if \[ v(\varphi)=\iint_\Omega \mu\varphi \] for all \(\varphi\) in \(A(\Omega)\). A notion of infinitesimal boundary dilation is defined by \(b(v)=\text{g.l.b.}\{b^*(\mu):\mu\) represents \(v\) where \[ b^*(\mu)=\text{g.l.b.}(\|\mu|_{\Omega-E}\|_\infty:E\;\text{compact }<\Omega\}. \] Similar definitions are given for local infinitesimal boundary diltations \(b_p(v)\) with appropriate \(b^*_p(\mu)\). Fundamental results in the paper are given by the affirmative solution of Gardiner's conjecture \[ H(\tau)=\max_{p\in\partial\Omega}H_p(\tau) \] and its infinitesimal version \[ b(v)=\max_{p\in\partial\Omega}b_p(v). \]