Functions holomorphic on a region minus a Cantor set - MathOverflow

Functions holomorphic on a region minus a Cantor set

2012-05-16T16:51:11Z

Let $X$ and $Y$ be simply connected open regions of $\mathbb{C}$, and let $Z \subset X$ be a Cantor set. Assume we have a homeomorphism $f$ from $X$ to $Y$, which is holomorphic on $X \setminus Z$. Is $f$ necessarily holomorphic on $X$?

Answer by Igor Rivin for Functions holomorphic on a region minus a Cantor set

2012-05-16T17:54:14Z

This belongs to the subject of holomorphic removability. See this Wiki article for more references. In particular, the article implies that any set with Hausdorff dimension smaller than $1$ is holomorphically removable, and if its Hausdroff dimension is greater than $1,$ it is not. If it is equal to $1,$ you remain puzzled.

Answer by Lee Mosher for Functions holomorphic on a region minus a Cantor set

2012-05-16T18:02:53Z

Yes, if the Cantor set has measure zero. This is a consequence of the Measurable Riemann Mapping Theorem which guarantees that the map is quasiconformal, combined with the theorem that if a quasiconformal map is conformal almost everywhere then it is conformal.

Answer by Robert Israel for Functions holomorphic on a region minus a Cantor set

2012-05-16T18:43:54Z

Yes, if $Z$ has Hausdorff 1-dimensional measure $0$. Then for any $\epsilon > 0$ you can cover $Z$ by a finite number of disks the sum of whose circumferences is less than $\epsilon$. The integral of $f$ over the boundary of the union of these disks is bounded by a constant times $\epsilon$. Use this together with Morera's theorem.

Answer by Hrant Hakobyan for Functions holomorphic on a region minus a Cantor set

2012-06-14T09:04:17Z

Yes, if $H_1(E)=0$. For every $1< t\leq 2$ there are examples of Cantor sets of Hausdorff dimension $t$ which are non-removable. Of course there are also examples of $t$-dimensional sets which are removable (e.g. quasicircles). Complete characterization of removable sets is an interesting and open problem.

Answer by Misha for Functions holomorphic on a region minus a Cantor set

2013-01-28T18:11:22Z

In Theorem 3 of this paper, for every $\alpha>1$, Chris Bishop constructs examples of Cantor sets $E\subset {\mathbb C}$ whose Hausdorff dimension is in the interval $(1, \alpha)$ and homeomorphisms $f: {\mathbb C}\to {\mathbb C}$ which are conformal outside of $E$, but are not conformal on $E$. Furthermore, in his examples, the set $f(E)$ has zero Lebesgue measure.

Answer by Lasse Rempe-Gillen for Functions holomorphic on a region minus a Cantor set

2013-01-31T13:52:39Z

Removability with respect to homeomorphisms is different from the removability with respect to bounded functions mentioned in another answer.

In particular, it is not necessary to have Hausdorff dimension at most 1. Indeed, any quasicircle is removable with respect to homeomorphisms, as mentioned by Hrant.

For much more complicated sets, see Jeremy Kahn's thesis "Holomorphic Removability of Julia sets": He shows that many Julia sets of quadratic polynomials are in fact removable.

http://arxiv.org/abs/math/9812164

(As above, we consider the set in question to be compact.)

In particular, he discusses the notion of "absolute area zero": A set $K$ has absolute area zero if there is no conformal isomorphism from the complement of $K$ to the complement of some set with positive area. Any such set is removable, and any Cantor set that is well-surrounded has absolute area zero.

On the other hand, as has been noted elsewhere, there are many examples of sets that are not holomorphically removable. The simplest example of a Cantor set would be a Cantor set of positive measure. More interesting examples are provided by Chris Bishop, as cited in Misha's answer.

EDIT: You may also wish to look at the paper "Removability theorems for Sobolev functions and quasiconformal maps" by Peter Jones and Stas Smirnov, which contains a number of sufficient conditions for conformal removability: http://www.unige.ch/~smirnov/papers/hr-j.pdf

Graczyk and Smirnov use these criteria to prove removability of a large class of Julia sets.