Sufficient conditions for a mobius transformation to map the unit circle to itself.

2.3k Views Asked by At

Find necessary and sufficient conditions for a Mobius transformation $T(z)=\frac{az+b}{cz+d}$ to map the unit circle to itself. So if $\gamma$ is a circle, $T(\gamma)=\gamma$.

I've worked out the necessary conditions. Namely, if $T(\gamma)=\gamma$, then

  1. $|a|^2+|b|^2=|c|^2+|d|^2$

  2. $a\bar{b}=\bar{d}c$

  3. $\bar{a}b=d\bar{c}$

Source: Conway's Complex Functions of One Variable

How does one go about showing sufficiency? Should I simply assume conditions 1),2) and 3) and try to prove that $T(\gamma)=\gamma$? If so I can simply claim that all the implications I used to get these conditions also work backwards. Or just show that $|\frac{az+b}{cz+d}|=1$ by these conditions, which is rather simple. Is that all there is to this? I just wish the whole "necessary and sufficient" language was scrapped for some direct notation.

As an aside, I'm wondering if I'm using the words "necessary" and "sufficient" correctly in this context. Is what I showed in the first part the necessary conditions (that's what makes sense to me semantically, because they are necessary once I've assumed the map), or are they the sufficient conditions?

2

There are 2 best solutions below

6
On BEST ANSWER

The map $T(z) = \frac{az+b}{cz+d}$ sends the unit circle to itself if and only if for any $\zeta$ in the circle, $|T(\zeta)|=1$. Now you just have to translate this into conditions on the coefficients.

$|T(\zeta)|=1$ is equivalent to $$ |a|^2 + |b|^2 + 2Re(a\bar{b} \zeta) = |c|^2 +|d|^2+ 2Re(c\bar{d}\zeta) $$

Since $T$ is determined by the image of three points, just evaluate the equation above for three distinct values of $\zeta$ and you'll get the necessary and sufficient conditions. For $\zeta = 1, i, -1$, you'll get the conditions 1) and 2).

1
On

Consider the mapping of the complex plane G(w) =2w^2 on itself. What happens to the unit circle (consisting of complex numbers such that |z|=1)? How many preimages does one point have with this mapping?