Universal locally univalent functions and universal conformal metrics with constant curvature (Q2311913)

The authors study universal locally univalent holomorphic and meromorphic functions and universal constantly curved conformal metrics. Let \(\mathcal H(\Omega)\) be the space of all holomorphic functions on a domain \(\Omega\subset\mathbb C\), and let \(\text{Aut}(\Omega)\) denote the group of all conformal automorphisms of \(\Omega\). A function \(f\in\mathcal H(\Omega)\) is universal if the set \(\{f\circ\phi:\phi\in\text{Aut}(\Omega)\}\) is dense in \(\mathcal H(\Omega)\). For a set \(M\subseteq\mathbb C\), denote by \(\mathcal H_{l.u.}(M)\) the family of all functions which are holomorphic and locally univalent on some neighborhood of \(M\). The following two theorems formulated for holomorphic functions have analogues for meromorphic functions proved also in the paper and they can also be generalized to Riemann surfaces. Theorem 1.1: Let \(K\) be a compact set in a domain \(\Omega\subset\mathbb C\) and let \(\Omega\setminus K\) have no relatively compact components in \(\Omega\). Then every function \(f\in\mathcal H_{l.u.}(K)\) can be approximated uniformly on \(K\) by functions in \(\mathcal H_{l.u.}(\Omega)\). Theorem 1.3: Let \(\Omega\) be a simply connected domain in \(\mathbb C\). Then there exists a function \(f\in\mathcal H_{l.u.}(\Omega)\) such that \(\{f\circ\phi:\phi\in\text{Aut}(\Omega)\}\) is dense in \(\mathcal H_{l.u.}(\Omega)\). The corresponding problem is solved for bounded locally univalent functions. Let \(\mathcal B(\Omega)\) denote the set of all \(f\in\mathcal H(\Omega)\) such that \(|f(z)|\leq1\) on \(\Omega\) and let \(\mathcal B_{l.u.}(\Omega):=\mathcal B(\Omega)\cap\mathcal H_{l.u.}(\Omega)\). Theorem 1.5: Let \(\Omega\) be a simply connected proper subdomain of \(\mathbb C\). Then there is a function \(f\in\mathcal B_{l.u.}(\Omega)\) such that \(\{f\circ\phi:\phi\in\text{Aut}(\Omega)\}\) is dense in \(\mathcal B_{l.u.}(\Omega)\). A regular conformal metric \(\lambda(z)|dz|\) on a domain \(\Omega\) is given by the density \(\lambda\in C^2(\Omega)\), \(\lambda>0\). The Gauss curvature of \(\lambda(z)|dz|\), \[\mathcal K_{\lambda}(z):=-\frac{\Delta\log\lambda(z)}{\lambda^2(z)},\;\;\;z\in\Omega,\] where \(\Delta\) is the Laplace operator, obeys the invariance property \(\mathcal K_{\phi^*\lambda}=\mathcal K_{\lambda}\circ\phi\) for a locally univalent self-map \(\phi\) of \(\Omega\) and the pullback \(\phi^*\lambda(z)|dz|\) of \(\lambda(z)|dz|\) via \(\phi\) by \(\phi^*\lambda(z):=(\lambda\circ\phi)(z)|\phi'(z)|\), \(z\in\Omega\). Denote by \(\Lambda_c(\Omega)\), \(c\in\mathbb R\), the set of densities of all regular conformal metrics with constant curvature \(c\). The authors prove the following theorem which is treated as maybe the main result of the paper. Theorem 1.6: Let \(\Omega\) be a simply connected domain in \(\mathbb C\), and let \(c\in\mathbb R\). Suppose that \(\Omega\neq\mathbb C\) if \(c<0\). Then there is an \(\Lambda\in\Lambda_c(\Omega)\) such that \(\{\phi^*\Lambda:\phi\in\text{Aut}(\Omega)\}\) is dense in \(\Lambda_c(\Omega)\). The authors discuss also Runge-type theorems and universality results and pose many related open problems.