On conformal capacity and Teichmüller's modulus problem in space (Q5943733)

Let \(e_1= (1,\dots,0) \in \mathbb{R}^n\), \(x \in \mathbb{R}^n \setminus \{0, e_1\}\), and let \(p(x) = \inf \text{cap}(E,F)\) where the infimum is taken over all pairs of continua \(E,F\) with \(0\), \(e_1 \in E\), \(x, \infty \in F\) and \(\text{cap}(E,F)\) refers to the conformal capacity of the condenser with plates \(E,F.\) This extremal problem is a generalization to \(n=2\) of a problem of Teichmüller which deals with the case \(n=2\). The function \(p(x)\) was studied by \textit{M. Vuorinen} in [Conformal geometry and quasiregular mappings, Lect. Notes Math. 1319 (1988; Zbl 0646.30025)], by \textit{A. Yu. Solynin} and \textit{M. Vuorinen} in [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 348, 4095-4112 (1996; Zbl 0860.30027)], by \textit{G. D. Anderson, M. K. Vamanamurthy}, and \textit{M. Vuorinen} in [Conformal invariants, inequalities, and quasiconformal maps. Wiley (1997; Zbl 0885.30012)], and by \textit{D. Betsakos} and \textit{M. Vuorinen} in [Constructive Approximation 16, 589-602 (2000; Zbl 0968.30011)]. The goal of these studies is to find upper bounds for \(p(x)\) in terms of the capacity of the Teichmüller capacity \(\tau_n(s) \equiv \text{cap}([-e_1,0], [se_1, \infty)) .\) The spherical symmetrization of \textit{F. W. Gehring} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 105, 353-393 (1962; Zbl 0113.05805)] yields the lower bound \(t(x)\equiv\tau_n(\min \{ |x|,|x-e_1|\})\) and one would like to find upper bounds of the form \(c t(x)\) for some constant \(c>1 .\) Previously, it was known that one can choose \(c \leq 2^n \sqrt{3}\) and here the author shows that one can choose \(c\) independent of the dimension, \(c \leq 4,\) thus answering an open problem of the field. The proof is based on inequalities for the conformal capacities of condensers under a geometric transformation called polarization. The polarization was studied by \textit{V. Wolontis} [Am. J. Math. 74, 587-606 (1952; Zbl 0047.08001)] and by \textit{V. N. Dubinin} [Sov. Math., Dokl. 36, 217-219 (1988; Zbl 0667.31006), Russ. Math. Surv. 49, 1-79 (1994; Zbl 0830.30014)]. For the dimension \(n=2\) much more is known. See for instance the aforementioned papers by Solynin and Vuorinen (loc. cit.) as well as Betsakos and Vuorinen (loc. cit.).