Zalcman conjecture for indices n > 6

Prove the Zalcman conjecture for indices n > 6: for each normalized univalent function f(z) = z + ∑_{k=2}^∞ a_k z^k in the class S on the unit disk, show that |a_n^2 − a_{2n−1}| ≤ (n − 1)^2, with equality for the Koebe function K(z) = z/(1 − z)^2 or its rotations.

Background

The Zalcman conjecture asserts that for f in S and n ≥ 2, |a_n2 − a_{2n−1}| ≤ (n − 1)2 with equality for the Koebe function or rotations. This conjecture implies the Bieberbach conjecture and is a central open problem in the theory of univalent functions.

The paper notes that the conjecture is settled for n = 2 (via the Bieberbach theorem), for n = 3 (Krushkal, 1995), and for n = 4, 5, 6 (Krushkal, 2010). Beyond these cases, the general statement remains unresolved.

References

For n>6 the Zalcman conjecture remains an open problem.

Coefficient bounds for starlike functions associated with Gregory coefficients  (2412.09127 - Ahamed et al., 2024) in Section 4 (Sharp bound of Zalcman functional), first paragraph

In 1960, Zalcman proposed the conjecture $\vert a_n2 - a_{2n-1} \vert \leq (n-1)2 $ for $f \in \mathcal{S}$. This conjecture has its own interest, but the main point is that it provides the Bieberbach conjecture $ |a_n|\leq n$. Both conjectures attracted considerable attention and were extensively studied by many authors. The Bieberbach conjecture has now been proved for all $n$, whereas Zalcman's conjecture is proved only for $n\leq 6$ and for certain subclasses of univalent functions.

In 1999, Ma proposed a generalized Zalcman conjecture for $f\in \mathcal{S}$ that $$ \vert a_n a_m - a_{n+m-1} \vert \leq (n-1)(m-1) \quad \forall\; m,n\geq 2,$$ which is still an open problem, however he proved it for the classes $\mathcal{S}*$ and $\mathcal{S}\mathbb{R}$, where $\mathcal{S}\mathbb{R}$ contains univalent functions with real coefficients.