Loewner theory in annulus. II: Loewner chains (Q692070)

The authors introduce general notions of a canonical domain system \((D_t)_{t\geq0}\) of order \(d\), \(1\leq d\leq\infty\), an evolution family \((\varphi_{s,t})_{0\leq s\leq t<\infty}\) of order \(d\) over \((D_t)\) and a Loewner chain \((f_t)_{t\geq0}\) of order \(d\) over \((D_t)\) for the doubly connected case. Every Loewner chain generates an evolution family of the same order according to the following theorem proved in the paper (Theorem 1.9): Let \((f_t)\) be a Loewner chain of order \(d\) over a canonical domain system \((D_t)\) of order \(d\). If \(\varphi_{s,t}:=f_t^{-1}\circ f_s\), \(0\leq s\leq t<\infty\), then \((\varphi_{s,t})\) is an evolution family of order \(d\) over \((D_t)\). Denote by \(I(\gamma)\) the index of the origin with respect to a closed curve \(\gamma\subset\mathbb C^*:=\{z: 0<|z|<\infty\}\). A Loewner chain \((f_t)\) over \((D_t)\) is associated with an evolution family \((\varphi_{s,t})\) over the same canonical domain system if \(\varphi_{s,t}=f_t^{-1}\circ f_s\). A converse of Theorem 1.9 is given in Theorem 1.10: Let \((\varphi_{s,t})\) be an evolution family of order \(d\) over \((D_t)\) where \(D_t:=\{z: r(t)<|z|<1\}\) and a function \(r(t)\) does not increase, \(0\leq r(t)<1\). Let \(r_{\infty}:=\lim_{t\to\infty}r(t)\). Then there exists a Loewner chain \((f_t)\) of order \(d\) over \((D_t)\) such that \((f_t)\) is associated with \((\varphi_{s,t})\), \(I(f_t\circ\gamma)=I(\gamma)\) for any closed curve \(\gamma\subset D_t\) and any \(t\geq0\), \(\bigcup_{t\geq0}f_t(D_t)=\{z: r(\infty)<|z|<1\}\) if \(0<r_{\infty}<1\), and \(\bigcup_{t\geq0}f_t(D_t)\) is either \(\mathbb D^*=\{z: 0<|z|<1\}\), \(\mathbb C\setminus\overline{\mathbb D}=\{z: 1<|z|<\infty\}\) or \(\mathbb C^*\) if \(r_{\infty}=0\). If \((g_t)\) is another Loewner chain over \((D_t)\) associated with \((\varphi_{s,t})\), then there is a biholomorphism \(F: \bigcup_{t\geq0}g_t(D_t)\to\bigcup_{t\geq0}f_t(D_t)\) such that \(f_t=F\circ g_t\) for all \(t\geq0\). The authors define four conformal types for a Loewner chain of order \(d\) over \((D_t)\) and characterize the conformal type via the properties of the corresponding evolution family. Theorem 5.1 of the article gives a necessary and sufficient condition for a non-degenerate evolution family \((\varphi_{s,t})\) to satisfy the condition \(\varphi_{s,t}\to0\) as \(t\to\infty\). Section 6 of the paper is devoted to obtaining a characterization of semicomplete weak holomorphic vector fields over canonical domain systems of mixed type. The above results are combined in Section 7 to present a conformal classification of Loewner chains, in the doubly connected setting, via the corresponding weak holomorphic vector fields. Possible future research directions and unsolved problems within the topic are discussed in the last Section 8.