Beurling's free boundary value problem in conformal geometry (Q616522)

\textit{A. Beurling}'s celebrated extension of the Riemann mapping theorem [Acta Math. 90, 117--130 (1953; Zbl 0051.06004); Sem. analytic functions 1, 248--263 (1958; Zbl 0099.08302)] as a conformal geometric free boundary value problem arose from the search for functions \(f\) analytic in the unit disc with \(0= f(0)< f'(0)\) for which \[ \lim_{z\to\zeta}\Big(|f'(z)|-\Phi\big(f(z)\big)\Big)= 0, \quad \zeta\in\{z:|z|= 1\}, \] where \(\Phi: \mathbb{C}\to\mathbb{R}\) is a continuous, positive, bounded function. The authors noticed that the only known proof of this result contained a number of gaps that seemed inherent in his geometric and approximative approach. In this interesting paper they provide a complete proof of the theorem by combining Beurling's geometric method (that uses an ingenious geometric version of Perron's method of subharmonic functions) with a number of new analytic tools, notably \(H^p\)-space techniques from the theory of Riemann-Hilbert-Poincaré problems. This approach leads to an extension of the theorem to analytic maps with prescribed branching. Also, it allows a complete description of the boundary regularity of solutions in the (generalized) theorem, extending earlier results obtained by \textit{B. Gustafsson} and \textit{H. Shahgholian} [J. Reine Angew. Math. 473, 137--179 (1996; Zbl 0846.31005)] by PDE techniques. In addition, they examine the uniqueness question in the extended Beurling-Riemann theorem. They end with a specific counterexample to Beurling's original method of proof.