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For a plane domain, the following are equivalent descriptions of a simply connected domain: every based loop contracts in the domain with its basepoint fixed; any two paths with the same endpoints are homotopic while those endpoints stay fixed; its complement in the Riemann sphere is connected; every holomorphic function has a single-valued primitive; and every nowhere-zero holomorphic function has a holomorphic logarithm. The complement must be taken in the extended plane, including infinity. An equivalent winding number formulation is that every closed curve has index zero about every point outside the domain.

Here is a direct equivalence proof for the first two topological formulations. If all paths with given endpoints are homotopic relative to those endpoints, apply this to a loop based at $a$ and the constant path at $a$, obtaining a contraction. Conversely, let ${\gamma }_0,{\gamma }_1$ join $a$ to $b$. The loop ${\gamma }_0\ast {\gamma }_1^{-1}$ contracts with basepoint fixed. Concatenating this contraction with ${\gamma }_1$ produces a homotopy from ${\gamma }_0\ast {\gamma }_1^{-1}\ast {\gamma }_1$ to ${\gamma }_1$, relative to $a,b$. The middle retracing excursion contracts by shortening its traversal in both directions, giving a homotopy from that first path to ${\gamma }_0$. Hence ${\gamma }_0$ and ${\gamma }_1$ are homotopic relative to their endpoints. Planar domains are path-connected, so no extra path-component condition is needed.

The analytic descriptions follow from path independence of the holomorphic integral. Local primitives exist on discs by integrating power series; a homotopy can be subdivided into pieces lying in such discs, and local path integrals cancel along its common edges. Thus integrals over homotopic paths agree, giving a global primitive. Applied to $h^{\prime }/h$ for a nowhere-zero function, a primitive $H$ makes $h{e}^{-H}$ constant and hence supplies a holomorphic logarithm. These observations are also the tools used in the mapping proof below.

The Riemann mapping theorem states that every nonempty simply connected proper domain $D⊊\mathbb{C}$ admits a conformal bijection onto the unit disc. Given $z_0\in D$, there is exactly one such map with $f(z_0)=0$ and $f^{\prime }(z_0)>0$. The exclusion of the whole plane is necessary: an entire map into the disc would be constant by Liouville's theorem.

An extremal proof has the following concrete steps. First construct an injective bounded holomorphic map. Choose $a\notin D$ and a holomorphic square root $h$ of $z-a$. It is injective, since equality of its values implies equality of their squares. Its image is disjoint from its negative: $h(z)=-h(w)$ would imply $z=w$ and then $h(z)=0$, impossible. If $b=h(z_0)$, choose $r>0$ with $B(b,r)\subset h(D)$; the disc $B(-b,r)$ is omitted. Therefore $1/(h+b)$ is injective and bounded. Scaling it and applying an automorphism of the unit disk gives a map into the disc taking $z_0$ to zero; a rotation makes its derivative positive.

Let $\mathcal{U}$ consist of all injective maps $D\to \mathbb{D}$ with this normalization. It is nonempty. The derivative at $z_0$ is bounded above by the Cauchy integral formula on a small disc compactly contained in $D$. Choose $f_n\in \mathcal{U}$ with derivatives tending to their positive supremum $L$. Boundedness, the Cauchy estimates and a diagonal Arzelà-Ascoli theorem argument give a subsequence converging locally uniformly to $f$; this is the bounded-family form of the Montel theorem. Then $f(z_0)=0$, $f^{\prime }(z_0)=L>0$, and the maximum modulus principle puts its image in the open disc. The limit is injective: if distinct $z,w$ had $f(z)=f(w)$, apply Hurwitz's theorem near $w$ to $f_n(\cdot )-f_n(z)$, which has no zero there; the limit would vanish identically, contradicting $f^{\prime }(z_0)>0$.

Finally suppose $a\in \mathbb{D}$ is omitted by $f$. It is nonzero since $f(z_0)=0$. Let $T_a(w)=(w-a)/(1-\overline{a}w)$ and choose a holomorphic square root $h$ of $T_a\circ f$. It is injective and takes values in the disc. Put $b=h(z_0)$, so $|b|=\sqrt{|a|}$, and normalize $T_b\circ h$ by a rotation. The new map's derivative magnitude at $z_0$ isThis square-root improvement of a normalized conformal map contradicts extremality. Thus $f$ is onto. Two normalized bijections differ by a disc automorphism fixing zero; Schwarz lemma applied to it and its inverse makes it a rotation, and positivity of the normalized derivatives forces that rotation to be the identity. This completes the requested proof outline.

The Riemann mapping theorem asserts that a nonempty simply connected domain $\Omega ⊊\mathbb{C}$ is biholomorphic to the unit disk $\mathbb{D}$. More precisely, for each $z_0\in \Omega$ there is a unique biholomorphism $f:\Omega \to \mathbb{D}$ satisfying $f(z_0)=0$ and $f^{\prime }(z_0)>0$. We prove existence through an extremal derivative, deriving the compactness and injectivity steps rather than assuming special lemmas for the theorem.

First construct a bounded univalent function on $\Omega$. Choose $a\notin \Omega$ and a holomorphic logarithm of $z-a$, which exists by the permitted logarithm result on the translated simply connected domain. PutThen $u(z{)}^2=z-a$, so $u$ is univalent and never zero. Its image $G=u(\Omega )$ is open, and $G\cap (-G)=\varnothing$: equality $u(x)=-u(y)$ would imply $x=y$ after squaring and then $u(x)=0$.

Fix $w_0\in G$ and choose $r>0$ with $B(w_0,r)\subset G$. It follows that $B(-w_0,r)\subset -G$ is disjoint from $G$, so $|u(z)+w_0|\ge r$ throughout $\Omega$. Henceis a univalent function with $|h|\le 1/2$. For $b\in \mathbb{D}$, defineThe identityand the inverse $T_b^{-1}(w)=(w+b)/(1+\overline{b}w)$ show directly that $T_b$ is an automorphism of the unit disk. Apply $T_{h(z_0)}$ to $h$ and then a rotation to make its nonzero derivative at $z_0$ positive. The family $\mathcal{A}$ of univalent maps $\Omega \to \mathbb{D}$ with value zero and positive derivative at $z_0$ is therefore nonempty.

LetIt is positive. Choose $\rho >0$ with $\overline{B(z_0,\rho )}\subset \Omega$. The Cauchy estimate gives $v^{\prime }(z_0)\le 1/\rho$ for every $v\in \mathcal{A}$, so $M$ is finite. Take a sequence $v_j\in \mathcal{A}$ with $v_j^{\prime }(z_0)\to M$.

We now justify a locally uniform convergence subsequence. On any compact subset of $\Omega$, the bound $|v_j|\le 1$ and the Cauchy estimate on slightly larger interior disks give a uniform derivative bound. They therefore give equicontinuity. Apply the Arzelà-Ascoli theorem on a compact exhaustion of $\Omega$, then take a diagonal subsequence for locally uniform convergence. Its limit $v$ is holomorphic: pass to the limit in the Cauchy integral formula on every small interior circle. The same formula for derivatives givesThus $v$ is nonconstant. Initially $|v|\le 1$, and the maximum modulus principle improves this to $|v|<1$ everywhere.

For completeness, the needed locally uniform limit of univalent functions argument is short. If $x\ne y$ and $v(x)=v(y)$, the nonconstant holomorphic function $v-v(y)$ has an isolated zero at $x$. Choose a small closed disk around $x$ excluding $y$, with no zero on its boundary. Uniform convergence there gives $v_j-v_j(y)\to v-v(y)$. The Rouche theorem then makes $v_j-v_j(y)$ have a zero inside that disk for all sufficiently large $j$. Its only possible zero, by injectivity of $v_j$, is $y$, outside the disk. This contradiction proves injectivity of $v$. Therefore $v\in \mathcal{A}$ and attains the supremum $M$.

It remains to prove surjectivity. Suppose $c\in \mathbb{D}$ is omitted by $v$; since $v(z_0)=0$, necessarily $c\ne 0$. The domain $T_c(v(\Omega ))$ is simply connected, because both constituent maps are homeomorphisms onto their images, and it excludes zero. The permitted holomorphic logarithm gives a holomorphic square rootThis maps $\Omega$ into $\mathbb{D}$ and is univalent, since equality of its values implies equality after squaring and hence equality of the original arguments. Write $\gamma =g(z_0)$. Then ${\gamma }^2=T_c(0)=-c$ and $|\gamma |=\sqrt{|c|}$. Normalize again with $V=T_{\gamma }\circ g$ and a rotation. Its derivative magnitude isThe strict inequality follows from $(1-\sqrt{|c|}{)}^2>0$. This square-root improvement of a normalized conformal map contradicts extremality. Thus $v(\Omega )=\mathbb{D}$. An injective holomorphic map has nonzero derivative and a holomorphic local inverse; these inverses agree, so the resulting bijection is biholomorphic. We have proved existence.

For uniqueness, two normalized maps give an automorphism of the unit disk $v_2\circ v_1^{-1}$ fixing zero. Apply the Schwarz lemma, proved in the next part, to this automorphism and its inverse. Both inequalities force equality, so the equality case makes it a rotation. Its derivative at zero is the positive real number $v_2^{\prime }(z_0)/v_1^{\prime }(z_0)$, forcing that rotation to be the identity. ThereforeThe proper-domain hypothesis is necessary: a bounded entire holomorphic function has derivative at most $1/R$ on disks of arbitrarily large radius by the Cauchy estimate, and hence is constant. Conversely, a domain biholomorphic to the disk is simply connected because the map is a homeomorphism.