On the Nehari univalence criterion and quasicircles (Q795951)

Let f be meromorphic and locally univalent in \(D=\{| z|<1\}, S_ f(z)\) the Schwarzian derivative of f, and \(T_ f(z)=(1-| z|^ 2)^ 2| S_ f(z)|.\) The authors prove the following results: (1) If \(T_ f(z)\leq 2\) in D, then f(D) is a Jordan domain or the image of a parallel strip under a Möbius map; also, \(| f(rz_ 0)-f(z_ 0)| =O(dist[f(rz_ 0),\partial f(D)]^{{1\over2}})\) as \(r\to 1\). This extends a result of \textit{Z. Nehari} [Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 55, 545- 551 (1949; Zbl 0035.051)]. (2) If \(T_ f(z)\leq b<2\) in D, then f(D) is a quasidisk with constant \(M\leq 8(1-{1\over2}b)^{-{1\over2}},\) f has a spherically continuous extension to \(\bar D\) and f is finitely valent in \(\bar D\). This extends work of \textit{L. V. Ahlfors} and \textit{G. Weill} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 13, 975-978 (1962; Zbl 0106.285)] and \textit{J. Becker} [Aspects of contemporary complex analysis, Proc. instr. Conf., Durham/Engl. 1979, 37-77 (1980; Zbl 0491.30012)]. Finally they discuss a condition on the upper bound for \(| S_ f(z)|\) in a simply- connected domain G bounded by a quasicircle \(\Gamma\) that ensure that f(G) is bounded by a quasicircle \(f(\Gamma)\) with a specified upper estimate for the cross-ratio of points on \(f(\Gamma)\); the method involves a quantitative version of a result of \textit{D. Sullivan} [Quasiconformal homeomorphisms and dynamics II, preprint (1982)].