Hankel operators in Schatten ideals (Q1424206)

Denote by \(H^2(\partial D)\) the standard Hardy space of the unit circle \(\partial D \), by \(H_{\partial D}^2\) its orthogonal complement in \(L^2(\partial D)\), and by \(P\) the Szegő (Riesz) projection of \(L^2(\partial D)\) onto its closed subspace \(H_{\partial D}^2\). The Hankel operator with essentially bounded symbol \(f\) is defined as \(H_ f g = f g - P(f g) \) and maps \(H^2(\partial D)\) boundedly onto \(H_{\partial D}^2\). The history of these operators is long, beginning with Hankel matrices and Kronecker's characterizations of the matrices of finite rank among them. The bounded Hankel operators were characterized by Nehari, the compact ones by Hartman, and their singular numbers by Adamyan, Arov, and Kreĭn, to mention only some relevant authors. More details can be found in the monographs by \textit{S. C. Power} [``Hankel operators on Hilbert space'' (Pitman Research Notes in Mathematics 64) (1982; Zbl 0489.47011)] and \textit{J. R. Partington} [``An introduction to Hankel operators'' (London Mathematical Society Student Texts 13, Cambridge University Press) (1988; Zbl 0668.47022)]. We single out \textit{V. V. Peller}'s recent monograph [``Hankel operators and their applications'' (Springer, New York) (2003; Zbl 1030.47002)] as a comprehensive and superb account of the theory. An important topic in the study of Hankel operators is their membership in various Schatten classes. \textit{V. V. Peller} [Math. USSR, Sb. 41, 443--479 (1982; Zbl 0478.47015)] proved that a Hankel operator with a conjugate holomorphic symbol belongs to the standard Schatten class \(S_p\), \(1\leq p<\infty\), if and only if the symbol is in the diagonal Besov space \(B_{p}^{1/p}\). Different proofs and/or further extensions of this result were obtained by several contributors, including Semmes and Peller himself. The author of the paper under review studies the membership of Hankel operators in more general Schatten ideals associated with a monotone Riesz-Fischer space. A measurable function (finite almost everywhere) defined on the positive integers (equipped with the standard discrete measure), or on a \(\sigma\)-finite measure space without atoms, belongs to such a space if, by definition, the monotone Riesz-Fischer norm of its (unique normalized) decreasing rearrangement is finite. Such spaces are relevant in the theory of interpolation of operators. To mention only some examples, the classical \(L^p\) and \(L^{p,q}\) spaces, as well as the Zygmund class \(L \log L\) or the Orlicz spaces \(L^{\psi}\), are all monotone Riesz-Fischer spaces. Continuing her earlier research, as a main result, the author characterizes those Hankel operators that belong to the general Schatten ideals mentioned in terms of the membership of their symbol in certain spaces of Besov type, in the vein of Peller's earlier results. However, her proof uses different techniques that rely primarily on interpolation of operators. A characterization of Besov spaces in terms of rational approximation follows as a corollary by applying the theorems of Kronecker and Adamyan-Arov-Kreĭn. This answers a question raised by Peller in [op. cit. (1982)]. Some applications are given at the end of the paper. There are some minor misprints.