Proper analytic free maps

This paper concerns analytic free maps. These maps are free analogs of classical analytic functions in several complex variables, and are defined in terms of non-commuting variables amongst which there are no relations - they are free variables. Analytic free maps include vector-valued polynomials in free (non-commuting) variables and form a canonical class of mappings from one non-commutative domain D in say g variables to another non-commutative domain in variables. As a natural extension of the usual notion, an analytic free map is proper if it maps the boundary of D into the boundary of . Assuming that both domains contain 0, we show that if is a proper analytic free map, and f(0)=0, then f is one-to-one. Moreover, if also , then f is invertible and f−1 is also an analytic free map. These conclusions on the map f are the strongest possible without additional assumptions on the domains D and .