On power deformations of univalent functions

Abstract: For an analytic function $f(z)$ on the unit disk $|z|<1$ with $f(0)=f'(0)-1=0$ and $f(z)\ne0, 0<|z|<1,$ we consider the power deformation $f_c(z)=z(f(z)/z)^c$ for a complex number $c.$ We determine those values $c$ for which the operator $f\mapsto f_c$ maps a specified class of univalent functions into the class of univalent functions. A little surprisingly, we will see that the set is described by the variability region of the quantity $zf'(z)/f(z),~|z|<1,$ for the class in most cases which we consider in the present paper. As an unexpected by-product, we show boundedness of strongly spirallike functions.