In mathematics, Grunsky's theorem, due to the German mathematician Helmut Grunsky, is a result in complex analysis concerning holomorphic univalent functions defined on the unit disk in the complex numbers. The theorem states that a univalent function defined on the unit disc, fixing the point 0, maps any disk |z| < r onto a starlike domain for r ≤ tanh π/4. The largest r for which this is true is called the radius of starlikeness of the function.
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Let f be a univalent holomorphic function on the unit disc D such that f(0) = 0. Then the image of the disc |z| < r is starlike if r ≤ tanh π/4, i.e. it is invariant under multiplication by real numbers in (0,1).
If f(z) is univalent on D with f(0) = 0, then
Taking the real and imaginary parts of the logarithm, this implies the two inequalities
and
For fixed z, both these equalities are attained by suitable Koebe functions
where |w| = 1.
Grunsky (1932) originally proved these inequalities based on extremal techniques of Ludwig Bieberbach. Subsequent proofs, outlined in Goluzin (1939), relied on the Loewner equation. More elementary proofs were subsequently given based on Goluzin's inequalities, an equivalent form of Grunsky's inequalities (1939) for the Grunsky matrix.
For a univalent function g in z > 1 with an expansion
Goluzin's inequalities state that
where the zi are distinct points with |zi| > 1 and λi are arbitrary complex numbers.
Taking n = 2. with λ1 = – λ2 = λ, the inequality implies
If g is an odd function and η = – ζ, this yields
Finally if f is any normalized univalent function in D, the required inequality for f follows by taking
with
Let f be a univalent function on D with f(0) = 0. By Nevanlinna's criterion, f is starlike on |z| < r if and only if
for |z| < r. Equivalently
On the other hand by the inequality of Grunsky above,
Thus if
the inequality holds at z. This condition is equivalent to
and hence f is starlike on any disk |z| < r with r ≤ tanh π/4.