Antiholomorphic correspondences and mating I: realization theorems

In this paper, we bring together four different branches of antiholomorphic dynamics: of global anti-rational maps, reflection groups, Schwarz reflections in quadrature domains, and antiholomorphic correspondences. We establish the first general realization theorems for bi-degree $d$:$d$ correspondences on the Riemann sphere (for $d\geq 2$) as matings of maps and groups. To achieve this, we introduce and study the dynamics of a general class of antiholomorphic correspondences; i.e., multi-valued maps with antiholomorphic local branches. Such correspondences are closely related to a class of single-valued antiholomorphic maps in one complex variable; namely, Schwarz reflection maps of simply connected quadrature domains. Using this connection, we prove that matings of all parabolic antiholomorphic rational maps with connected Julia sets (of arbitrary degree) and antiholomorphic analogues of Hecke groups can be realized as such correspondences. We also draw the same conclusion when parabolic maps are replaced with critically non-recurrent antiholomorphic polynomials with connected Julia sets.