TOPICS
Search

Schwarz's Lemma


Let f be analytic on the unit disk, and assume that

1. |f(z)|<=1 for all z and

2. f(0)=0.

Then |f(z)|<=|z| and |f^'(0)|<=1.

If either |f(z)|=|z| for some z!=0 or if |f^'(0)|=1, then f is a rotation, i.e., f(z)=az for some complex constant a with |a|=1.

A sharp refinement of the growth estimate is

 |f(z)|<=|z|(|f^'(0)|+|z|)/(1+|f^'(0)||z|)

for z in the unit disk (Rogosinski 1934, p. 260; Osserman 2000). For f that is not a rotation, this follows by applying the Schwarz-Pick lemma to f(z)/z, with its value at the origin defined as f^'(0).

If f extends continuously to a point a with |a|=1, |f(a)|=1, and f^'(a) exists, then the boundary Schwarz lemma gives

 |f^'(a)|>=2/(1+|f^'(0)|).

This bound follows from Unkelbach (1938, p. 741) and was independently obtained by Osserman (2000). In particular, |f^'(a)|>1 unless f is a rotation. Both estimates are sharp, as shown by f(z)=z(z+c)/(1+cz) for 0<=c<1, with equality in the growth estimate for real 0<z<1 and in the boundary estimate at a=1.

Sharp generalizations of both estimates to holomorphic maps between the open unit balls of complex Banach spaces are given by Chen et al. (2026).


See also

Möbius Transformation, Schwarz-Pick Lemma

Explore with Wolfram|Alpha

References

Chen, S.; Hamada, H.; Kundathil, M.; and Vijayakumar, R. "Some Sharp Schwarz Type Estimates and Their Applications in Banach Spaces." J. Geom. Anal. 36, Article No. 403, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12220-026-02642-3.Krantz, S. G. "Schwarz's Lemma." §5.5.1 in Handbook of Complex Variables. Boston, MA: Birkhäuser, p. 78, 1999.Osserman, R. "A Sharp Schwarz Inequality on the Boundary." Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 128, 3513-3517, 2000. https://doi.org/10.1090/S0002-9939-00-05463-0.Rogosinski, W. "Zum Schwarzschen Lemma." Jahresber. Deutsche Math.-Verein. 44, 258-261, 1934. https://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/id/PPN37721857X_0044.Unkelbach, H. "Über die Randverzerrung bei konformer Abbildung." Math. Z. 43, 739-742, 1938. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01181115.

Referenced on Wolfram|Alpha

Schwarz's Lemma

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Schwarz's Lemma." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/SchwarzsLemma.html

Subject classifications