Mappings on spaces of continuous functions (Q1579878)

Let \(X\) and \(Y\) be locally compact Hausdorff spaces and \(T: C_0(X)\to C_0(Y)\) a ring homomorphism. Theorem. If \(T\) is non-zero and \(\mathbb{R}\)-linear, then there exists disjoint subsets \(Y_1\) and \(Y_2\) such that \(Y= Y_1\cup Y_2\) and \(T_1: C_0(X)\to C_0(Y_1)\) and \(T_2: C_0(X)\to C_0(Y_2)\) where \(T_1= Tf|Y_1\) is \(\mathbb{C}\)-linear and \(T_2f= Tf|Y_2\) is \(\mathbb{C}\)-antilinear. Furthermore, \(\|T\|= 1\). (Here \(Y_1\) and \(Y_2\) are locally compact Hausdorff spaces endowed with the relative topologies inherited from \(Y\).) Let \(\tau: Y\to X\) be any given map, then the composition operator \(T\) induced by \(\tau\), written as \(T= C_\tau\), is a linear map \(T: C_0(X)\to C_0(Y)\) such that \(Tf= f\circ\tau\). Theorem. Assume the range of the ring homomorphism \(T\) is non-vanishing. If \(T\) is \(\mathbb{C}\)-linear, then \(T= C_\tau\) for some continuous and proper map \(\tau: Y\to X\). If \(T\) is \(\mathbb{C}\)-antilinear, then \(S=\overline T\) is \(\mathbb{C}\)-linear, where \(\overline T: C_0(X)\to C_0(Y)\) is defined by \(\overline Tf=\overline{Tf}\). Hence, \(S= C_\tau\) for some \(\tau: Y\to X\). In either case, if \(T\) is injective, then \(\tau\) is onto. In the theorem below, \(\text{Re }T\) denotes an operator sending \(f\) to \(\text{Re}(Tf)\). Theorem. Let \(T\) be injective and \(\mathbb{R}\)-linear such that the range of \(\text{Re }T\) separates \(Y\). Then \(X= X_1\cup X_2\) and \(T= T_1\oplus T_2\), where \(T_1\) and \(T_2\) are as in the first Theorem and \(X_1\) and \(X_2\) are disjoint clopen sets in \(X\) such that \(\text{Ker }T_i= \{f\in C_0(X):f|X_i= 0\}\), \(i= 1,2\). Moreover, the range of \(T\) vanishes on a set \(V\subset Y\) and the set \(Y_i\setminus V\) is open in \(Y\) \((i= 1,2)\), where \(V\) is either empty or a singleton. The operator \(S_1= T_1|C_0(X_1)\) is \(\mathbb{C}\)-linear, the operator \(S_2= T_2|C_0(X_2)\) is \(\mathbb{C}\)-antilinear, and the spaces \(X_i\) and \(Y_i\setminus V\) are homeomorphic \((i= 1,2)\). In the case that \(T: C_0(X)\to C_0(Y)\) is a linear isometry, the authors give a shorter proof of the following theorem which is a main result in a paper [J. Math. Anal. Appl. 201, No. 3, 981-993 (1996; Zbl 0936.47011)] by \textit{J.-S. Jeang} and \textit{N.-C. Wong}. Theorem. There exists a locally compact subset \(Y'\) and a weighted composition operator \(T'= wC_\tau: C_0(X)\to C_0(Y')\) such that, for all \(f\in C_0(X)\), \[ Tf|{Y'}= T'f= wC_\tau f \] for some quotient map \(\tau: Y'\to X\) onto \(X\) and some continuous function \(w: Y'\to \mathbb{C}\) with \(|w(y)|=1\) for all \(y\in Y'\).