Cyclicity in the Dirichlet space (Q1005718)

Let \(\mathcal{D}\) denote the Dirichlet space which consists of those analytic functions \(f\) in the unit disc such that their derivatives \(f'\) are square integrable. Equivalently, an analytic function \(f(z)=\sum_{n=0}^\infty a_nz^n\) belongs to \(\mathcal{D}\), if \(\sum_{n=0}^\infty(n+1)|a_n|^2<\infty\). A function \(f\in\mathcal{D}\) is said to be \textit{cyclic} if the set \(\{pf:p \text{ polynomial}\}\) is dense in \(\mathcal{D}\). In the paper under review the authors study the question of when \(f\in\mathcal{D}\) is cyclic. Earlier results on the structure of cyclic vectors for \(\mathcal{D}\) have been obtained by \textit{L.~Brown} and \textit{A.~L.~Shields} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 285, 269--304 (1984; Zbl 0517.30040)], \textit{H.~Hedenmalm} and \textit{A. Shields} [Mich. Math. J. 37, No. 1, 91--104 (1990; Zbl 0701.46044)] and \textit{S.~Richter} and \textit{C.~Sundberg} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 341, No. 2, 863--879 (1994; Zbl 0816.47037)]. The main result of the paper is Theorem~1.3. To state it, let \(\underline{Z}(f)\) denote the set of points \(\alpha\) on the unit circle \(\mathbb{T}\) for which \(0\) is in the cluster set of \(f\) at \(\alpha\). Moreover, for \(E\subset\mathbb{T}\) and \(t>0\), let \(E_t\) denote the set of those points in \(\mathbb{T}\) whose distance, with respect to arclength, from \(E\) is less than or equal to \(t\). Theorem~1.3 states that \(f\in\mathcal{D}\) is cyclic provided that \(f\) is an outer function and \(\underline{Z}(f)\) is of the form \(\underline{Z}(f)=C\cup E\), where \(C\) is countable and \(E\) is a perfect set satisfying \[ \int_0^1\frac{|E_t|}{(t\log(1/t)\log\log(1/t))^2}dt<\infty. \] Here \(|E_t|\) denotes the Lebesgue measure of \(E_t\). The particular case when \(E=\emptyset\) was discovered by Hedenmalm and Shields, and Richter and Sundberg. The proof of Theorem~1.3 has four principal ingredients: (i) the notion of Bergman-Smirnov exceptional sets, as introduced by Hedenmalm and Shields, (ii) a result about spectral synthesis in the Dirichlet space, (iii) the construction of a certain holomorphic semigroup in the Dirichlet space, and (iv) a converse to the strong-type estimate for the capacity, which is stated as Theorem~1.4 and reads as follows: Let \(E\) be a proper closed subset of \(\mathbb{T}\), and let \(\eta:(0,\pi]\to\mathbb{R}^+\) be a continuous, decreasing function. Then the following are equivalent: (1) there exists \(f\in\mathcal{D}\) such that for all \(\alpha\in\mathbb{T}\) outside a set of capacity zero the radial limit \(f^*(\alpha)\) satisfies \[ |f^*(\alpha)|\geq\eta(\text{dist}(\alpha,E)); \] (2) the capacity \(\text{cap}(E_t)\) satisfies \[ \int\text{cap}(E_t)d\eta^2(t)>-\infty. \] In addition, the authors give several sufficient conditions for a set to be Bergman-Smirnov. Particularly, certain Cantor sets are shown to admit this property and thus provide the first examples of closed subsets of \(\mathbb{T}\) that are Bergman-Smirnov but not countable.