Finding the automorphism of upper half plane given three distinct points

complex-analysis

Suppose $(x_1,x_2,x_3)$ and $(y_1,y_2,y_3)$ are two pairs of three
distinct points on the real axis with $x_2<x_2<x_3$ and $y_1<y_2<y_3$.
Prove that there exists (a unique) automorphism $\phi$ of $\mathbb{H}$
so that $\phi(x_j)=$

I already know the uniqueness part, and want to prove the existence.

I know that $Aut(\mathbb{H})=\{\phi:\phi(z)=\frac{az+b}{cz+d}:a,b,c,d\in\mathbb(R), ad-bc>0\}$. Automorphisms of the upper half plane suggests me to "scale and conjugate" $\frac{(z-x_1)(x_2-x_3)}{(z-x_3)(x_2-x_1)}$ but I don't seem to understand how this works out. I tried $(y_2-y_1)\frac{(z-x_1)(x_2-x_3)}{(x_2-x_1)(z-x_3)}+y_1$ so that it sends $x_1$ to $y_1$ and $x_2$ to $y_2$ but I don't know why I initially send $x_3$ to $\infty$. Could someone help me with this question? Thank you.

Best Answer

The idea is to show that

  1. $T(z; x_1, x_2, x_3) = \dfrac{(z-x_1)(x_2-x_3)}{(z-x_3)(x_2-x_1)}$ is an automorphism of $\Bbb H$ which maps $x_1, x_2, x_3$ to $0, 1, \infty$, respectively, and

  2. the automorphisms of $\Bbb H$ form a group.

Therefore $$ T(z; y_1, y_2, y_3)^{-1} \circ T(z; x_1, x_2, x_3) $$ is an automorphism of $\Bbb H$ with the desired property.

Remark: $\dfrac{(z-x_1)(x_2-x_3)}{(z-x_3)(x_2-x_1)}$ is, up to some permutation of the arguments, the so-called “cross-ratio” or “double ratio“ of $z, x_1, x_2, x_3$.