Countability via capacity (Q1433420)

A subset \(E\) of \(\mathbb{C}\) is called {polar} if there exists a subharmonic function \(u\), defined on a domain \(D\) containing \(E\), such that \(u \not\equiv - \infty\) on \(D\) and \(u \equiv - \infty\) on \(E\). The logarithmic capacity of a compact set \(K\) of \(\mathbb{C}\) is defined by \[ c(K) : = \exp\left(\sup_{\mu} \int \int \log | z - w| \,d\mu(z)\,d\mu(w)\right), \] where the supremun is taken over all Borel probability measures \(\mu\) supported on \(K\). It is a well known fact that \(K\) is polar if and only if \(c(K) = 0\). Given two compact subsets \(K\) and \(L\) of \(\mathbb{C}\), let \(K + L : = \{z + w: z \in K\), \(w \in L \}\). In general \(c(K) = c(L) = 0\) does not imply \(c(K + L) = 0\) as is shown by a particularly simple example due to Kahane [see \textit{B. Aupetit}, Propriétés spectrales des algèbres de Banach (Lecture Notes in Mathematics. 735). Berlin: Springer (1979; Zbl 0409.46054)]. In the paper under review, the authors prove the following very interesting and nice result. Theorem 1. Let K be a compact subset of \(\mathbb{C}\). Then the following are equivalent: (i) \(c(K + L) = 0\) whenever \(c(L) = 0\); (ii) \(K\) is countable. The implication (ii) \(\Rightarrow\) (i) is straightforward, because if \(K\) is countable, then \(K + L\) is a countable union of translates of \(L\), and will thus be of capacity zero whenever \(L\) is. The main concern of the theorem is the converse implication. The motivation for proving this result arises from the theory of analytic multifunctions, a class of set-valued functions of a complex variable whose definitions and main properties can be found in the monograph by \textit{B. Aupetit} [A Primer on spectral theory (Universitext. New York etc.: Springer-Verlag) (1991; Zbl 0715.46023)]. The basic idea to prove Theorem 1 is to reduce the problem to certain Cantor-type sets \(K\) for which one can perform calculations. The authors also use standard results in potential theory as well which state that if \(Z\) is an uncountable compact subset of \(\mathbb{R}\) then there exists a Lipschitz homeomorphism \(f : \mathbb{R}\rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) such that \(f(Z)\) contains a binary linear Cantor set. As an application of Theorem 1 the authors give a short proof of the so-called scarcity theorem of \textit{Z. Słodkowski} [Math. Ann. 256, 363--386 (1981; Zbl 0452.46028)] which solved a conjecture due to Pelczynki.