On the Brown-Shields conjecture for cyclicity in the Dirichlet space (Q1034095)

The authors continue their programme to prove the Brown-Shields conjecture on the structure of the cyclic vectors for the shift operator on the (holomorphic) Dirichlet space \[ {\mathfrak D}= \biggl\{f\in H(\mathbb D): D(f)= \frac{1}{\pi}\int_{\mathbb D} |f '(z)|^2\,dx\,dy<\infty\biggr\} \] endowed with the norm \(\|f\|_{\mathfrak D}^2:= D(f)+\|f\|^2_{H^2}\) (see [Ark.\ Mat.\ 44, No.\,1, 61--86 (2006; Zbl 1171.30026)] for their previous work). Recall that \(f\in {\mathfrak D}\) is cyclic if the set \(\{pf: p\text{ polynomial}\}\) is dense in \({\mathfrak D}\). \textit{L.\,Brown} and \textit{A.\,L.\thinspace Shields} [Trans.\ Am.\ Math.\ Soc.\ 285, 269--304 (1984; Zbl 0517.30040)] showed that, if \(f\in {\mathfrak D}\) is cyclic, then \(f\) is outer and the set \(\{\xi\in\mathbb T: \lim_{r\to 1} f(r\xi)=0\}\) has logarithmic capacity zero. For a set \(E\subseteq \mathbb T\), let \(E_t=\{\xi\in \mathbb T: d(\xi, E)\leq t\}\), where \(d\) denotes arclength distance on the unit circle \(\mathbb T\), and let \(|E_t|\) denote the Lebesgue measure of \(E_t\). In the present paper, the following theorem is shown. Let \(f\in \mathfrak D\) be outer and \(E=\{\xi\in\mathbb T: \liminf_{z\to \xi}|f(z)|=0\}\). Suppose that \(|E_t|= O(t^\mu)\) as \(t\to 0\) for some \(\mu>0\) and \(\int_0^\pi \frac{dt}{|E_t|}=\infty\). Then \(f\) is cyclic in \({\mathfrak D}\). It is also shown that such sets \(E\) are Bergman-Smirnov exceptional sets [see \textit{H.\,Hedenmalm} and \textit{A.\,Shields}, Mich.\ Math.\ J.\ 37, No.\,1, 91--104 (1990; Zbl 0701.46044)].