On Loewner energy and curve composition

The composition $γ\circ η$ of Jordan curves $γ$ and $η$ in universal Teichmüller space is defined through the composition $h_γ\circ h_η$ of their conformal weldings. We show that whenever $γ$ and $η$ have finite Loewner energy $I^L$, the energy of their composition satisfies $$I^L(γ\circ η) \lesssim_K I^L(γ) + I^L(η),$$ with an explicit constant in terms of the quasiconformal $K$ of $γ$ and $η$. We also study the asymptotic growth rate of the Loewner energy under $n$ self-compositions $γ^n := γ\circ \cdots \circ γ$, showing $$\limsup_{n \rightarrow \infty} \frac{1}{n}\log I^L(γ^n) \lesssim_K 1,$$ again with explicit constant. Our approach is to define a new conformally-covariant rooted welding functional $W_h(y)$, and show $W_h(y) \asymp_K I^L(γ)$ when $h$ is a welding of $γ$ and $y$ is any root (a point in the domain of $h$). In the course of our arguments we also give several new expressions for the Loewner energy, including generalized formulas in terms of the Riemann maps $f$ and $g$ for $γ$ which hold irrespective of the placement of $γ$ on the Riemann sphere, the normalization of $f$ and $g$, and what disks $D, \overline{D}^c \subset \hatC$ serve as domains. An additional corollary is that $I^L(γ)$ is bounded above by a constant only depending on the Weil--Petersson distance from $γ$ to the circle.