Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 5 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A normal family of holomorphic functions on a domain is one from which every sequence has a subsequence converging locally uniformly to a holomorphic function, or locally uniformly to infinity in the extended convention. For a bounded family, only finite limits occur.
For functions mapping a plane domain into the unit disc, the Cauchy integral formula supplies uniform derivative bounds on each compact subset. More explicitly, if a closed disc of radius around lies in , the Cauchy estimate gives . A slightly larger compact neighborhood of any given compact set therefore gives uniform boundedness and equicontinuity there. Apply the Arzelà-Ascoli theorem on a compact exhaustion and take a diagonal subsequence. Its limit is locally uniform; the Cauchy integral formula shows that the limit is holomorphic. This proves normality rather than merely invoking it.
Now let on the complex upper half-plane. Every dilation has the same bound, so the argument just given, after scaling the bound if necessary, proves that is a normal family. For any sequence , every locally uniform subsequential limit satisfiesThe identity theorem for holomorphic functions forces . It follows that locally uniformly as : otherwise a sequence violating convergence on one compact set would have a convergent subsequence with this same constant limit, a contradiction.
For , the arc is a compact subset of the complex upper half-plane. Write with . Local uniform convergence of the dilations givesFor the specified sector is empty. This is the same compactness mechanism as the normal-family proof of angular boundary convergence.
To transfer the result to the unit disc, use the Cayley transform between the half-plane and diskIt sends to with , so as . Choose the curvature-minus-one normalization of the hyperbolic metric, for which the disc line element is and the half-plane line element is . The Cayley transform between the half-plane and disk preserves these metrics. For and ,Thus implies . This is the hyperbolic tube around a radial segment estimate. It places in a fixed sector bounded away from the real axis. Moreover implies . Applying the sector result givesA different constant normalization of the hyperbolic metric only rescales and gives the same conclusion.