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An orientation-reversing local conformal map of planar domains. Equivalently, its complex conjugation is a holomorphic function with nonzero derivative. Complex conjugation $z\mapsto \bar{z}$ is the basic example. The metric pullback uses the modulus of its local scale factor, just as for an orientation-preserving conformal map.

A chordal filling is the closed connected set obtained from a proper boundary-to-boundary path by adding complementary pockets disconnected from both boundary arcs between its marked endpoints. In $(\mathbb{H},0,\infty )$ it meets the boundary only at zero and infinity and leaves two complementary simply connected sides, adjacent to the negative and positive real axes. Equivalently it is full with respect to the two marked boundary arcs. This definition uses the prime ends of a general simply connected domain and is preserved by conformal maps.

Complex analysis studies functions of a complex number, especially holomorphic functions. Its distinctive feature is that a single complex derivative controls variation in every direction of the complex plane. The map $f(z)=z^2$ gives a first picture: straight coordinate lines become curved, yet small perpendicular arrows remain perpendicular wherever $f^{\prime }(z)\ne 0$.

The bottom panels show displacements rather than absolute positions. Multiplication by $f^{\prime }(1+i)=2+2i$ predicts the image of each small arrow; the exact image differs by $h^2$. The origin is exceptional because $f^{\prime }(0)=0$. This distinction between local conformal maps and a critical point is central: complex differentiability imposes strong geometric structure, without making every holomorphic function globally one-to-one.

The remarkable next step is that holomorphic functions are determined inside a circle by their values on its boundary. Precisely, let $R>0$, let $D=\{z:|z-a|<R\}$, and suppose $f$ is a holomorphic function on an open set containing the closed disc $\overline{D}$. Orient its boundary counterclockwise. The Cauchy integral formula states that, for every $w\in D$,The contour integral combines boundary values with a kernel depending on the requested interior point. It is a reconstruction formula, not merely a trick for evaluating an integral. The hypothesis about the closed disc ensures that all boundary values and the contour integral are well defined. ^[ref]

At the centre, substituting $z=a+R{e}^{i\theta }$ cancels the denominator against $dz=iR{e}^{i\theta }d\theta$:Thus the centre value is the angular average of the boundary values. For the polynomial $f(z)=z^2$, $a=1+i$ and $R=1/2$, expand the boundary data asBoth oscillating terms have zero average, leaving $f(a)=2i$. Away from the centre the weights change: on the unit circle,With $f(z)=z^2$ and $w=1/2$, expanding the denominator as a geometric series leaves only its second-power term after integration, giving $f(1/2)=1/4$. This also explains how the Cauchy integral formula recovers an entire Taylor series from boundary data.

When a holomorphic function has isolated singularities, a different boundary calculation detects their residues. Suppose $\Gamma$ is a counterclockwise simple closed contour and $f$ is holomorphic on a neighbourhood of it and its interior except at finitely many interior isolated singularities $a_j$. The residue theorem givesA residue is the coefficient of $(z-a_j{)}^{-1}$ in the Laurent series. A short proof idea is to deform the contour to small circles around the isolated singularities using the Cauchy integral theorem. Integrating the Laurent series on each circle kills every power except $-1$. ^[ref]

Here is how a complex pole determines a real improper integral. Set $g(z)=1/(1+z^2)$ and use the contour consisting of the segment from $-R$ to $R$, followed by the upper semicircle $A_R$, with $R>1$. Only the simple pole $i$ lies inside, andThe arc must actually disappear. On $A_R$, the reverse triangle inequality gives $|1+z^2|\ge R^2-1$, and its length is $\pi R$, soThe real integrand is bounded by $x^{-2}$ for $|x|\ge 1$, so both tails converge separately. Taking the limit therefore proves the ordinary improper integralFor example, at $R=10$ the real segment contributes $2\arctan (10)\approx 2.942255$, and the arc contributes $0.199337$, below the bound $10\pi /99\approx 0.317333$. The usefulness of the residue theorem is that the same strategy works for many rational functions whose real antiderivatives are cumbersome: find the enclosed poles, compute their residues, and control the connecting arc. ^[ref]

Historically, Cauchy's 1825 memoir on integrals with imaginary limits develops complex contour integration and its use in transforming and evaluating definite integrals. The opening sections define complex path integrals, discuss changing the path, and examine what happens near singular points. These are recognizable ancestors of the modern link between holomorphic functions, contours and residues. ^[ref]

The complex plane identifies the complex number $x+iy$ with the point $(x,y)$ in Cartesian coordinates. The horizontal coordinate is its real part, the vertical coordinate its imaginary part. Arrows from zero identify the same points with vectors. Adding $1+i$ moves $3+4i$ to $4+5i$: every point undergoes the same translation.

Multiplication has a richer geometry. Multiplying by the imaginary unit sends $x+iy$ to $-y+ix$, a counterclockwise quarter-turn rotation. In particular $i(3+4i)=-4+3i$. Multiplying by $1+i$ rotates through $\pi /4$ and scales every Euclidean distance by $\sqrt{2}$. More generally, multiplication by $a+ib$ acts through the real matrixFor $a+ib\ne 0$, this preserves oriented angles between nonzero displacement vectors: every direction turns equally. Its determinant is $a^2+b^2>0$, while its common scale is $\sqrt{a^2+b^2}$. This is the elementary geometric reason complex numbers are so useful for conformal maps.

The name Argand plane recalls Jean-Robert Argand's geometric interpretation. In his 1813 article he explicitly reports publishing his Essai in 1806; the original article is available in Argand, Annales de mathématiques, volume 4, page 133. A ^[ref] preserves the essay and its geometric drawings. Reading these alongside a modern complex plane reveals how directions and lengths give arithmetic a visible meaning.

Suppose a capacity-parameterized Loewner chain lies in a domain on which $\psi$ is a conformal map. For its image chain set ${\psi }_t={\tilde{g}}_t\circ \psi \circ g_t^{-1}$. Then the image Loewner driving function is ${\tilde{U}}_t={\psi }_t(U_t)$ andThe derivative is real by the Schwarz reflection principle. Cancellation of the pole in the differentiated conjugacy identity proves the squared-derivative rule.

For a conformal map $f$ and a conformal metric $\rho$ on its image, the pullback density is $\rho (f(z))|f^{\prime }(z)|$. The change of variables formula preserves its metric area, and the chain rule preserves the length of each corresponding curve. Applying this to $f$ and its inverse proves the title equality. This allows extremal length computations on rectangles, discs and annuli to be transported to other domains.

For a conformal map extending to the relevant boundary sets, compose the target harmonic measure with the map. The planar Laplacian transforms by the positive factor $|f^{\prime }{|}^2$, so the composition is a harmonic function with the correct boundary values. Uniqueness of the Dirichlet problem gives the displayed identity on regular domains, including the smooth-circle domains in the harmonic measure of an annulus.

If $B$ is planar Brownian motion in a domain $D$ and $f:D\to D^{\prime }$ is a nonconstant holomorphic function, then $f(B)$, run with the clock ${\int }_0^t|f^{\prime }(B_s){|}^{2}ds$, is planar Brownian motion in $D^{\prime }$ until the relevant exit time. In particular, conformal maps transport harmonic measure between planar domains.

Chordal SLE is defined on any simply connected domain with two marked boundary points by applying a conformal map from the upper half-plane. Its law is independent of the chosen map, up to a deterministic change of parameterization.

If $\varphi :D\to \tilde{D}$ is a conformal map, pulling back a zero-boundary Gaussian free field on $\tilde{D}$ gives a zero-boundary Gaussian free field on $D$. This follows from the conformal invariance of the planar Dirichlet Green function.

The map $w=-1/z$ sends the open second quadrant inside the unit circle bijectively to the open first quadrant outside it. Radius becomes $r^{-1}$ and argument becomes $\pi -\theta$. Its derivative $1/z^2$ is nonzero on the source, so it is a conformal map. Rotation combined with reciprocal inversion similarly maps other quarter-disc regions.

The local angle-preservation property of a conformal map. At a regular point its derivative is a positive scaling times an orthogonal linear map. Consequently composition multiplies gradient lengths by that scaling, as follows directly from the chain rule.

The map $C(z)={\tan }^2(\pi \sqrt{z}/4)$ is a conformal map from $\{x+iy:y^2<4(1-x)\}$ onto the unit disc. A principal square root first maps the slit parabolic region to a vertical strip, and a scaled tangent followed by squaring maps the strip to a slit disc. Evenness in the square-root variable gives a holomorphic extension across the removed axis, filling the target slit.

On $\mathbb{C}\setminus [-1,1]$, take the principal square root with positive real part. The Möbius transformation $(z-1)/(z+1)$ has image $(\mathbb{C}\setminus (-\infty ,0])\setminus \{1\}$. The principal square root therefore maps to the right half-plane with $1$ omitted, and the final Möbius transformation gives exactly $0<|w|<1$. The inverse is $z=-(w+w^{-1})/2$. Adding $\infty$ to the source on the Riemann sphere fills the missing value $w=0$ and gives a conformal map onto the full disk. Without $\infty$, a loop surrounding the segment has nonzero winding number, so the source is not a simply connected space and cannot be conformally equivalent to a disk.

The sine maps $\{-\pi /2<\mathrm{Re}z<\pi /2,\mathrm{Im}z>0\}$ bijectively onto the upper half-plane: its imaginary part is $\cos (\mathrm{Re}z)\sinh (\mathrm{Im}z)>0$, and the equality of two sine values forces either equal arguments modulo $2\pi$ or arguments summing to an odd multiple of $\pi$. Only equality is possible in this domain. For surjectivity, solve $t^2-2iwt-1=0$ for $t=e^{iz}$. When $\mathrm{Im}w>0$, exactly one root has modulus below one and it has positive real part. The inverse $z=-i\log t$ therefore belongs to the half-strip. Composing with $(w-i)/(w+i)$ gives a conformal map onto the unit disc.

A Jordan domain together with four distinct boundary points in cyclic order, regarded up to a conformal map preserving those marked points. Such a domain maps to a rectangle with its marked points at the four corners. The opposite boundary-arc pairs specify two dual curve-joining problems whose extremal lengths are reciprocal.

A sigma-finite measure on simple closed curves has conformal restriction if restricting to loops in a simply connected domain and then applying a conformal map agrees with first transporting the domain and restricting there. The usual nontrivial measures are finite on bounded macroscopic cutoff windows and are determined up to normalization by their pointed conformal deficits.

For planar Gaussian free field theory, this is the completion of real test functions $C_c^{\infty }(D)$ in the norm induced by the Dirichlet inner product, $(f,g{)}_{\nabla }=(2\pi {)}^{-1}{\int }_D\nabla f\cdot \nabla g$. On a general unbounded domain this convention must be distinguished from completion in the inhomogeneous $H^1$ norm. A conformal map identifies its energy norm with that on the unit disc by conformal invariance.

The conformal map $w=z^2$ sends $x,y>0$ to the complex upper half-plane. For bounded continuous boundary values $g_2$ on the horizontal axis and $g_1$ on the vertical axis with equal corner values, set $f(s)=g_2(\sqrt{s})$ for $s>0$ and $f(s)=g_1(\sqrt{-s})$ for $s<0$. The bounded harmonic function with those Dirichlet boundary conditions isEquivalently, if $z^2=a+ic$ with $c>0$, this is $\frac{2c}{\pi }{\int }_0^{\infty }r\left[g_2(r)/((r^2-a{)}^2+c^2)+g_1(r)/((r^2+a{)}^2+c^2)\right]dr$. The Poisson kernel is a positive approximate identity, so the prescribed edge values are attained. Boundedness is essential for uniqueness on this unbounded domain.

Let $L>0$ and consider holomorphic functions $f$ from the unit disc into $e^{-L}<|w|<e^L$, normalized by $f(0)=1$. Their largest possible derivative modulus is $4L/\pi$. Lift $f$ to its holomorphic logarithm $h$ with $h(0)=0$, so $|\mathrm{Re}h|<L$. The function $\tan (\pi h/(4L))$ maps the disc into itself and fixes zero. The Schwarz lemma gives $|h^{\prime }(0)|\le 4L/\pi$. Equality holds precisely forHere $\arctan$ is its holomorphic branch vanishing at zero; $(4L/\pi )\arctan z$ is a conformal map from the disc onto the vertical strip. Thus the maximal derivative modulus is attained, with a circle of distinct extremizers rather than a unique map.