Two disjoint ordinary circle boundaries can be taken to distinct concentric circles by a Möbius transformation. After their centres are put at with radii , the map works when and . Disjointness makes the quadratic have distinct real roots. Already concentric circles require no transformation.
A conformal bijection of the complex upper half-plane to itself is a real Möbius transformation with . Three distinct boundary values determine it uniquely. Its real derivative is positive away from its pole, and .
The map
maps conformally onto the upper half-plane. The Möbius transformation maps the half-disc onto the first quadrant, and squaring maps that quadrant onto the upper half-plane.
This cross-ratio convention is the value of under the Möbius transformation sending to . It is one minus the convention . Exchanging the first two points replaces by . For four points in cyclic order on a circle, this convention gives and .
Elliptic element of PSL2(R) Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
A real Möbius transformation represented by with . It fixes a point of the Poincare half-plane model; an integral matrix of this type has trace or . In the Poincare disc model, moving its fixed point to zero makes it a rotation about zero.
Hyperbolic element of PSL2(R) Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
A real Möbius transformation represented by with . It has two fixed ideal boundary points and translates along the geodesic joining them; its hyperbolic translation length is . Conjugating by a real Möbius transformation puts it in the form with ; its axis is then the imaginary axis.
Möbius calculation of circular Brownian exit Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-07
A planar Brownian motion beginning at in the unit disc has circular exit law obtained by pulling back uniform angular measure through . This Möbius transformation sends the starting point to zero. The right semicircle maps to an arc with endpoints at angles , giving positive-half-plane exit probability .
Möbius group 2026-10-06
The Möbius group is the group of all Möbius transformations of the Riemann sphere, under function composition. An invertible complex matrix represents , and nonzero scalar multiples represent the same transformation. Rescaling a representative to determinant one gives a surjective group homomorphism with kernel of a group homomorphism . Thus it is also the projective linear group and the quotient .
Every Möbius transformation preserves the cross-ratio. The identity makes all extra factors cancel in the ratio; limiting conventions handle points at infinity.
Parabolic element of PSL2(R) Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
A nonidentity real Möbius transformation represented by with . It has one ideal boundary fixed point and is conjugate to a nonzero translation on the Poincare half-plane model.