Cauchy transforms and composition operators (Q1129404)

Let \(M\) denote the Banach space of all finite Borel measures on the unit circle \({\mathbf T}\) and let the holomorphic function \(f(z)= \int_{\mathbf T} {d\mu(\zeta)\over 1-\zeta z}\) on the unit disk \({\mathbf D}\) be the Cauchy transform of \(\mu\in M\). The space \(K\) of all Cauchy transforms becomes a Banach space under the norm \(\| f\|_K= \inf\|\mu\|_M\), where the infimum is taken over all \(\mu\in M\) with the Cauchy transform \(f\). The authors study the composition operator \(C_\phi: K\to K\), \(C_\phi f= f\circ\phi\), where \(\phi\) is a holomorphic map of the unit disk \({\mathbf D}\) into itself. A new proof of the boundedness of \(C_\phi\) is given with the improved norm estimate \(\| C_\phi\|\leq {1+2| \phi(0)|\over 1-|\phi(0)|}\). The main results of the article are connected with compactness conditions for \(C_\phi\). It is shown that \(\phi\) induces a compact composition operator on \(K\) if and only if the corresponding composition operator on the Hardy space \(H^2\) is compact. It is also established that weakly compact composition operators must be compact and that \(C_\phi\) is weak\(^*\)-weak\(^*\) continuous on \(K\). The authors give some description of composition operators in terms of Aleksandrov measures.