Two-point distortion theorems for harmonic mappings (Q5893989)

The two-point distortion of a function \(f(z)\) gives the lower bound of the distance \(|f(z_1) - f(z_2)|\) with respect to the distance between \(z_1\) and \(z_2\). If the distortion is positive, then \(f\) is injective (univalent). Some earlier results gave sufficient conditions for curves in \(\mathbb R^n\) to be injective and for a lift of a harmonic mapping \(f(z) = u(z) + iv(z)\) to a suitable minimal surface to be injective. Using a real analog of the Schwarzian derivative, the authors improve these results estimating the distortion (which implies injectivity).