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For a conformal bijection $f:D\to \tilde{D}$ between proper planar domains, put $d=\mathrm{dist}(z,\partial D)$ and $\tilde{d}=\mathrm{dist}(f(z),\partial \tilde{D})$. Apply the Koebe quarter theorem to $(f(z+dw)-f(z))/(d{f}^{\prime }(z))$ on the unit disc to obtain $d|f^{\prime }(z)|/4\le \tilde{d}$. Apply it again to $f^{-1}$ to get the opposite bound. Thus $\boxed{\tilde{d}/(4d)\le |f^{\prime }(z)|\le 4\tilde{d}/d}$. The domains need not be simply connected domains. For the whole plane, the boundary distances are infinite and these ratios are undefined.

For a bounded simply connected domain $D$ and a conformal bijection $f:\mathbb{D}\to D$, $f$ extends continuously to the closed disc if and only if $\partial D$ is a locally connected space. A Jordan boundary gives a homeomorphism of closed discs, but local connectedness alone need not give injectivity on the boundary: a slit has two boundary approaches. The same statement applies on the sphere to unbounded domains after a suitable change of coordinates. This boundary theorem is different from the Caratheodory extension theorem for measures.

A compact H-hull is a bounded relatively closed subset $A$ of the complex upper half-plane $\mathbb{H}$ such that $\mathbb{H}\setminus A$ is a simply connected domain.

For a simply connected domain $D\ne \mathbb{C}$ and $z\in D$, the conformal radius is $|{\varphi }^{\prime }(0)|$, where $\varphi$ maps the unit disc conformally onto $D$ with $\varphi (0)=z$. Disc automorphisms fixing zero are rotations, so the value is independent of the chosen map.

A crosscut of a planar domain is a simple open arc inside the domain whose two endpoints are distinct boundary points, interpreted as prime ends when necessary. In a simply connected domain it divides the domain into two components. In the half-plane, a bounded crosscut joining two real points separates the intervening real interval from infinity; a Loewner chain completing that crosscut swallows this interval.

A real-valued function $u$ on a simply connected domain is harmonic exactly whenfor some holomorphic function $f$. One construction observes that $u_x-i{u}_y$ is holomorphic and takes its holomorphic primitive.

Choose a conformal map from a proper simply connected domain to the unit disc and pull back the topology of the closed disc. The resulting compactification is independent of the chosen map, since disc automorphisms extend to its boundary. Its intrinsic boundary distinguishes different approaches to a slit. Every conformal map between such domains extends to their intrinsic compactifications. This boundary agrees with the prime-end description in the simply connected setting.

As printed, the lower bound needs a connectedness hypothesis. This illustrates that radius gives no positive lower bound for disconnected harmonic hull capacity. A compact H-hull need not have connected closure. To see the obstruction, take $0<\epsilon <1/12$, set $c=\sqrt{1-{\epsilon }^2}$, and use three disjoint vertical slits,Their complement in the complex upper half-plane is a simply connected domain: the three slits attach to the real boundary, and create no interior holes. Symmetry shows that the smallest enclosing half-disc is centred at zero and has radius one. More explicitly, any real centre $b$ has maximum distance to the two outer tips at least $\sqrt{c^2+{\epsilon }^2}=1$, while the unit half-disc contains every slit. Also $0\in {\overline{K}}_{\epsilon }$ and $c+i\epsilon$ has modulus one.

For a vertical slit of height $\epsilon$, the mapping-out function of a vertical slit maps its two faces onto an interval of length $2\epsilon$, so its harmonic capacity from infinity in the upper half-plane is $2\epsilon$. Subadditivity of harmonic hull capacity, from the union bound for the Brownian hitting events, givesThus the requested conclusion does not follow from the printed assumptions.

The intended reflection lower bound for harmonic hull capacity works when the closure is a connected continuum joining the two specified points, as for a slit hull. Reflect in the vertical line through $x$, using $\rho (z)=2x-\bar{z}$. The reflected continuum joins $2x$ to $x+iy$. Together the original and reflected continua form a barrier between infinity and the segment $I$ together with the real interval between $0$ and $2x$. One can first verify this separation for polygonal simple arcs, then use decreasing connected neighbourhoods of the continuum. Hence, for Brownian motion started at $x+iY$, $Y$ large, reaching $I$ or the real interval $J$ between $0$ and $x$ requires a hit of the original or reflected barrier. Reflection symmetry and the union bound giveFor the connected slit setting, the real attachment endpoints have zero harmonic measure, so the last event may be written with $K$.

For $y>0$, use the branch of the square root fixed by hydrodynamic normalization at infinity:The two slit faces together have image length $2y$. The interval $J$ has image length $\sqrt{x^2+y^2}-y=1-y$, by the square-root formula on the appropriate real side. Thus the image length of $I\cup J$ is $1+y$. Multiply the probability inequality by $\pi Y$ and use part (i); the allowed starting approach includes $x+iY$. We obtainunder the stated connected-barrier interpretation. If $y=0$, the model slit is empty and $J$ has length $|x|=1$, giving the same lower bound by the real-interval argument. The connectedness repair is essential, as the explicit three-slit counterexample demonstrates.

A compact H-hull is a bounded relatively closed subset $K$ of the complex upper half-plane such that $\mathbb{H}\setminus K$ is a simply connected domain. This does not require its closure to be connected. Its mapping-out function is the unique conformal map $g_K:\mathbb{H}\setminus K\to \mathbb{H}$ with hydrodynamic normalization at infinity,The half-plane capacity isThe coefficient is zero exactly for the empty hull.

In terms of the least radius of a real-centred enclosing half-disc, the sharp displacement bound for a compact H-hull, also called the continuity estimate, isThe differentiability estimate for a mapping-out function is a uniform small-hull expansion: there is an absolute constant $C$ such that if $K\subset \{z:|z-\xi |\le r\}$ with $\xi \in \mathbb{R}$, thenThese are statements of the two requested estimates. The second is not merely a bound for $g_K^{\prime }$: it controls the first-order change of a mapping-out function when a small hull is removed.

A compact H-hull is a bounded set $K\subset \mathbb{H}$ that is closed relative to the complex upper half-plane and whose complement $D=\mathbb{H}\setminus K$ is a simply connected domain. Its Euclidean closure is compact in $\overline{\mathbb{H}}$; “compact” here does not require separation from the real axis. One may equivalently describe the closed hull in $\overline{\mathbb{H}}$, with its real-boundary convention understood. Its mapping-out function is the unique conformal map to $\mathbb{H}$ with hydrodynamic normalization at infinity.

Use the capacity convention $\mathrm{hcap}(K_t)=2t$. A chordal Schramm–Loewner evolution from $0$ to infinity is the hull family of the Chordal Loewner equationwhere $W$ is a real standard Brownian motion and $\kappa \ge 0$. The points with interior-point swallowing time for a Loewner chain at most $t$ constitute $K_t$. For each $t$, $g_t$ maps $\mathbb{H}\setminus K_t$ conformally onto $\mathbb{H}$ and has expansion $g_t(z)=z+2t/z+O(z^{-2})$. The case $\kappa =0$ is the deterministic vertical-slit chain.

First identify the relevant transformed Loewner driving functions directly. For $\lambda >0$, defineDifferentiation gives ${\partial }_t{\tilde{g}}_t=2/({\tilde{g}}_t-{\lambda }^{-1}{U}_{{\lambda }^{2}t})$. Its initial value is $z$, its domain is $\mathbb{H}\setminus {\lambda }^{-1}{K}_{{\lambda }^{2}t}$, and its expansion is $z+2t/z+O(z^{-2})$. Thus its driving function is ${\lambda }^{-1}{U}_{{\lambda }^{2}t}$, by uniqueness of the differential equation and of the hydrodynamically normalized map. Brownian scaling provesThis is capacity-parametrized scale invariance of a Loewner chain.

For a fixed time $t$, map the future remaining domains by $z\mapsto g_t(z)-U_t$. The corresponding hulls ${\hat{K}}_s$ are specified without any boundary-image ambiguity byTheir mapping-out functions areAt $s=0$ this is the identity. Differentiating at a point in its domain yieldsThe Laurent series is $z+2s/z+O(z^{-2})$. Hence the transformed Loewner driver is exactly $U_{t+s}-U_t$, with the original capacity clock unchanged. This proves the composition rule for chordal Loewner driving functions, rather than assuming an identification of transforms.

The Brownian motion increments after $t$ are independent of its past and have the original law. Since past hulls are measurable functions of the past Loewner driver, conditionally on the past, the centered mapped future is an independent copy of the original chain. This is the domain Markov property of a chordal Loewner chain. At an almost surely finite stopping time it follows likewise from the Strong Markov property.

For the converse, a precise class is essential: take capacity-parametrized Loewner chains generated by a continuous real Loewner driving function $U$, with $U_0=0$, and require the two displayed hull properties, including independence from the entire hull past in the domain Markov property. Within this class they characterize ${\mathrm{SLE}}_{\kappa }$, for some $\kappa \ge 0$.

To see why the hull assertions determine the Loewner driver assertions, the hull domains determine their normalized maps uniquely. For any surviving point,The left time derivative suffices for $t>0$, since $U$ is continuous. A sufficiently high point survives up to any given finite time, so points $in$, $n\in \mathbb{N}$, suffice to reconstruct the Loewner driver locally and measurably from the hull past. Thus the driving-function reconstruction for a chordal Loewner chain identifies the two past filtrations and makes the preceding scale and composition computations reversible.

The domain Markov property therefore gives stationary independent increments for $U$. Its continuity makes it a continuous Lévy process. Its classification gives $U_t=bt+\sqrt{\kappa }{W}_t$: in the Lévy–Khintchine formula continuity removes the jump measure, leaving characteristic function $\exp (t(ibu-\kappa u^2/2))$. Driver scaling would turn the drift $b$ into $\lambda b$, so invariance for every $\lambda$ forces $b=0$. The diffusion coefficient is unchanged. This proves the scale-and-domain-Markov characterization of SLE with its regularity and parametrization hypotheses stated explicitly.

The mapping-out function of a compact H-hull is the unique conformal bijection from $H=\mathbb{H}\setminus K$ onto the complex upper half-plane with hydrodynamic normalization at infinity:The nonnegative coefficient $a_K$ is the half-plane capacity of $K$. The leading coefficient one and constant term zero remove the affine ambiguity of a half-plane map. In the compact H-hull convention, $K$ is bounded and relatively closed in $\mathbb{H}$, and its complement is a simply connected domain; boundary attachment points can be included in its closure.

We will use these standard properties explicitly: $g_K$ and its inverse extend holomorphically by Schwarz reflection principle across real intervals outside the hull's real attachment region; their real boundary restrictions are strictly increasing; and their normalized Laurent series hold in a full reflected neighbourhood of infinity. In particular, when $K$ lies in the unit disc, these extensions exist across $(-\infty ,-1)$ and $(1,\infty )$.

A nearly closed semicircular slit makes the constant sharp. PutThis is the unit-circle arc attached at $-1$ and ending just short of $1$. Its complement is a simply connected domain. There remains a narrow passage near $1$ connecting the interior bay to infinity. Thus $K_L$ is a compact H-hull inside the closed unit disc.

For an explicit check, let $S=\sqrt{1+L^2}$ and let $q_L(z)=\sqrt{m(z{)}^2+L^2}$ denote the mapping-out function of a vertical slit applied to $m(z)$, with the branch asymptotic to its argument in the slit half-plane. Its normalized map isThe final Möbius transformation takes the image of the original infinity to infinity and gives hydrodynamic normalization at infinity. For a fixed $z$ in the open unit half-disc, $\mathrm{Re}m(z)>0$, so $q_L(z)\sim L$ and $g_{K_L}(z)\to 2$ as $L\to \infty$. Now take $z_{\delta }=-1+\delta +i\delta$, with $0<\delta <1$. First let $L\to \infty$, then let $\delta \downarrow 0$. The nearly closed semicircular slit givesEvery constant smaller than three therefore fails for some member of this family and some interior point. The bound need not be attained at an interior point of a single fixed hull.

Fix $z_0\in \mathcal{U}$. We prove the Riemann mapping theorem in this case by maximizing a normalized derivative. Choose $a\notin \mathcal{U}$. Since $\mathcal{U}$ is a simply connected domain and $z-a$ never vanishes, it has a holomorphic square root $g$. This $g$ is injective, and $g(\mathcal{U})$ is disjoint from $-g(\mathcal{U})$: equality up to sign would first force the original points to coincide. Choose $b\in g(\mathcal{U})$ and $r>0$ with $B(b,r)\subset g(\mathcal{U})$. The ball $B(-b,r)$ is omitted, so $1/(g+b)$ is a bounded univalent function. Scaling and composing with an automorphism of the unit disk produces an injective holomorphic function $\varphi :\mathcal{U}\to \mathbb{D}$ with $\varphi (z_0)=0$ and ${\varphi }^{\prime }(z_0)>0$.

Let $\mathcal{F}$ be the family of all such normalized univalent functions. A Cauchy estimate in a small disk about $z_0$ bounds their derivatives, so $M={\sup }_{\varphi \in \mathcal{F}}{\varphi }^{\prime }(z_0)$ is finite and positive. Choose a maximizing sequence in this normal family. Montel theorem gives a subsequence converging uniformly on compact subsets to $\varphi$. Its derivative at $z_0$ is $M>0$. The maximum modulus principle puts its image in $\mathbb{D}$, and Hurwitz's theorem implies that a nonconstant limit of injective holomorphic functions is injective. Thus the maximum is attained.

If $a_1\in \mathbb{D}$ is omitted, then $a_1\ne 0$. Put $T_a(w)=(w-a)/(1-\overline{a}w)$. A holomorphic square root $v$ of $T_{a_1}\circ \varphi$ exists, is injective, and takes values in $\mathbb{D}$. Compose $v$ with $T_{v(z_0)}$ and a rotation to normalize it. Writing $s=|a_1|\in (0,1)$, the new derivative has magnitudea contradiction. Therefore $\varphi$ maps onto $\mathbb{D}$. The Cayley transform between the half-plane and disk now givesIts inverse is holomorphic by the holomorphic inverse function theorem, so this is a biholomorphism. The proper-subset hypothesis was used to choose $a\notin \mathcal{U}$; the whole complex plane cannot be mapped this way, by Liouville theorem.