On an Iwaniec--Kovalev--Onninen Conjecture for harmonic quasiconformal annulus mappings

Abstract: In 2012, Iwaniec, Kovalev and Onninen proposed an upper Nitsche--Grötzsch type estimate for harmonic $K$-quasiconformal homeomorphisms between circular annuli: in normalized form, every such map $h:A(1,s)\to A(1,S)$ should satisfy [ S \leq \frac{K+1}{2}s-\frac{K-1}{2s}. ] The radial and spiral-radial one-mode models explain why this estimate is natural. We show that this one-mode evidence does not extend to the unrestricted non-radial class. For every $1<s<S$, we construct a non-radial harmonic orientation-preserving diffeomorphism $h:A(1,s)\to A(1,S)$ with [ \norm{ωh}{\infty}<\frac{S-s}{S-s^{-1}}, ] strictly below the conjectural threshold. Thus, the dilatation lower bound predicted by the conjecture fails, even for smooth harmonic diffeomorphisms with prescribed circular boundary components. The construction uses a small high-frequency reparametrization of the outer boundary: it lowers the first Fourier-mode dilatation by order $t<sup>2$, while the compensating high modes are exponentially damped at the inner boundary. We also record structured regimes in which the one-mode estimate survives, including an inner-boundary anti-conformal energy condition, a Fourier leakage criterion, and a low-frequency spectral stability result. In the minimal-surface interpretation, the upper radial model is helicoidal and vertical-periodic rather than single-valued catenoidal; accordingly, the counterexamples give vertical-periodic minimal annuli with slope below the expected helicoidal threshold, and lead to a non-radial extremal problem for harmonic annulus diffeomorphisms.