Uniformization theorem
In mathematics, the uniformization theorem says that every simply connected Riemann surface is conformally equivalent to one of the three Riemann surfaces: the open unit disk, the complex plane, or the Riemann sphere. In particular it implies that every Riemann surface admits a Riemannian metric of constant curvature. For compact Riemann surfaces, those with universal cover the unit disk are precisely the hyperbolic surfaces of genus greater than 1, all with non-abelian fundamental group; those with universal cover the complex plane are the Riemann surfaces of genus 1, namely the complex tori or elliptic curves with fundamental group Z2; and those with universal cover the Riemann sphere are those of genus zero, namely the Riemann sphere itself, with trivial fundamental group.
The uniformization theorem is a generalization of the Riemann mapping theorem from proper simply connected open subsets of the plane to arbitrary simply connected Riemann surfaces. The uniformization theorem also has an equivalent statement in terms of closed Riemannian 2-manifolds: each such manifold has a conformally equivalent Riemannian metric with constant curvature.
Many classical proofs of the uniformization theorem rely on constructing a real-valued harmonic function on the simply connected Riemann surface, possibly with a singularity at one or two points and often corresponding to a form of Green's function. Four methods of constructing the harmonic function are widely employed: the Perron method; the Schwarz alternating method; Dirichlet's principle; and Weyl's method of orthogonal projection. In the context of closed Riemannian 2-manifolds, several modern proofs invoke nonlinear differential equations on the space of conformally equivalent metrics. These include the Beltrami equation from Teichmüller theory and an equivalent formulation in terms of harmonic maps; Liouville's equation, already studied by Poincaré; and Ricci flow along with other nonlinear flows.
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