Curvature and uniformization (Q696295)

This paper takes up a classical theme in the theory of Riemann surfaces, namely that of uniformization. One approach going back to Picard and Poincaré in the 1890s is to use the theory of partial differential equations to find a complete metric conformally equivalent to a given one with constant negative curvature. For various reasons this approach has gone out of favour and most modern textbooks give function-theoretic proofs. The purpose of this paper is to give a full proof (assuming paracompactness, i.e. the Poincaré-Volterra theorem) of the uniformization theorem along these lines from a modern point of view and in a form which would also be suitable for teaching. The authors also discuss questions of regularity at the boundary for an open subset with smooth boundary of a given compact manifold and especially for planar regions. They also give a new proof of Koebe's disc theorem.