Uniqueness of the welding problem for SLE and Liouville quantum gravity

Abstract

We give a simple set of geometric conditions on curves $\eta$, $\tilde{\eta}$ in ${\mathbf H}$ from $0$ to $\infty$ so that if $\varphi \colon {\mathbf H} \to {\mathbf H}$ is a homeomorphism which is conformal off $\eta$ with $\varphi(\eta) = \tilde{\eta}$ then $\varphi$ is a conformal automorphism of ${\mathbf H}$. Our motivation comes from the fact that it is possible to apply our result to random conformal welding problems related to the Schramm-Loewner evolution (SLE) and Liouville quantum gravity (LQG). In particular, we show that if $\eta$ is a non-space-filling SLE$_\kappa$ curve in ${\mathbf H}$ from $0$ to $\infty$ and $\varphi$ is a homeomorphism which is conformal on ${\mathbf H} \setminus \eta$ and $\varphi(\eta)$, $\eta$ are equal in distribution then $\varphi$ is a conformal automorphism of ${\mathbf H}$. Applying this result for $\kappa=4$ establishes that the welding operation for critical ($\gamma=2$) Liouville quantum gravity (LQG) is well-defined. Applying it for $\kappa \in (4,8)$ gives a new proof that the welding of two independent $\kappa/4$-stable looptrees of quantum disks to produce an SLE$_\kappa$ on top of an independent $4/\sqrt{\kappa}$-LQG surface is well-defined.