Strengthened Moser’s conjecture, geometry of Grunsky coefficients and Fredholm eigenvalues

Abstract

The Grunsky and Teichmüller norms ϰ(f) and k(f) of a holomorphic univalent function f in a finitely connected domain D ∋ ∞ with quasiconformal extension to \(\widehat{\mathbb{C}}\) are related by ϰ(f) ≤ k(f). In 1985, Jürgen Moser conjectured that any univalent function in the disk Δ* = {z: |z| > 1} can be approximated locally uniformly by functions with ϰ(f) < k(f). This conjecture has been recently proved by R. Kühnau and the author. In this paper, we prove that approximation is possible in a stronger sense, namely, in the norm on the space of Schwarzian derivatives. Applications of this result to Fredholm eigenvalues are given. We also solve the old Kühnau problem on an exact lower bound in the inverse inequality estimating k(f) by ϰ(f), and in the related Ahlfors inequality.