The monograph is concerned with the modulus of families of curves on Riemann surfaces and its applications to extremal problems for conformal, quasiconformal mappings, and the extension of the modulus onto Teichmüller spaces. The main part of the monograph deals with extremal problems for compact classes of univalent conformal and quasiconformal mappings. Many of them are grouped around two-point distortion theorems. Montel's functions and functions with fixed angular derivatives are also considered. The last portion of problems is directed to the extension of the modulus varying the complex structure of the underlying Riemann surface that sheds some new light on the metric problems of Teichmüller spaces.

The book presents a research area in geometric function theory concerned with harmonic quasiconformal mappings and hyperbolic type metrics defined on planar and multidimensional domains. The classes of quasiconformal and quasiregular mappings are well established areas of study in this field as these classes are natural and fruitful generalizations of the class of analytic functions in the planar case. The book contains many concrete examples, as well as detailed proofs and explanations of motivations behind given results, gradually bringing the reader to the forefront of current research in the area. This monograph was written for a wide readership from graduate students of mathematical analysis to researchers working in this or related areas of mathematics who want to learn the tools or work on open problems listed in various parts of the book.

This book offers a modern, up-to-date introduction to quasiconformal mappings from an explicitly geometric perspective, emphasizing both the extensive developments in mapping theory during the past few decades and the remarkable applications of geometric function theory to other fields, including dynamical systems, Kleinian groups, geometric topology, differential geometry, and geometric group theory. It is a careful and detailed introduction to the higher-dimensional theory of quasiconformal mappings from the geometric viewpoint, based primarily on the technique of the conformal modulus of a curve family. Notably, the final chapter describes the application of quasiconformal mapping theory to Mostow's celebrated rigidity theorem in its original context with all the necessary background. This book will be suitable as a textbook for graduate students and researchers interested in beginning to work on mapping theory problems or learning the basics of the geometric approach to quasiconformal mappings. Only a basic background in multidimensional real analysis is assumed.

The monograph is concerned with the modulus of families of curves on Riemann surfaces and its applications to extremal problems for conformal, quasiconformal mappings, and the extension of the modulus onto Teichmller spaces. The main part of the monograph deals with extremal problems for compact classes of univalent conformal and quasiconformal mappings. Many of them are grouped around two-point distortion theorems. Montel's functions and functions with fixed angular derivatives are also considered. The last portion of problems is directed to the extension of the modulus varying the complex structure of the underlying Riemann surface that sheds some new light on the metric problems of Teichmller spaces.