Invariant subspaces generated by a single function in the polydisk (Q1688330)

Let \(H^2(U^n)\) denote the Hardy space on the unit polydisk \(U^n\) in \(\mathbb C^n\). A subspace \(M\subset H^2(U^n)\) is called invariant if \(M\) is a closed linear subset and \(f\in M\) implies \(z_if\in M\), for all \(i=1,\dots,n\). For \(n=1\) a famous theorem of A. Beurling characterizes such invariant spaces as those of the form \(f H^2(U)\), where \(f\) is an inner function (i.e., \(f\) analytic on \(U\) such that \(\lim_{r\to 1^-} |f(re^{i\theta})|=1\), for a.e. \(\theta\in[0,2\pi]\)). For \(n>1\) the structure is much more complicated. Spaces generated by inner functions are still invariant, but there are many other possibilities. For instance, there exist invariant subspaces in \(H^2(U^2)\) that are not even finitely generated [\textit{W. Rudin}, Function theory in polydiscs. New York-Amsterdam: W.A. Benjamin, Inc. (1969; Zbl 0177.34101)]. In this paper the authors study invariant subspaces generated by a single function. The first result (Theorem 2) shows that every singly generated invariant subspace is generated by a so-called generalized inner function. These are the functions \(f\in H^\infty(U^n)\) such that \(1/f^*\) is bounded in the torus \(\mathbb T^n\). Here \(f^*\) denotes as usual the boundary values of \(f\), which exist a.e. on \(\mathbb T^n\). In Theorem 3 examples are constructed to show that invariant subspaces generated by generalized inner functions are not always generated by inner functions. As a corollary it is shown that for a generalized inner function the identity \(f H^2(U)=H^2(U)\) holds if and only if \(f\) is outer, that is, \(\log|f(0)|=\int_{\mathbb T^n} \log|f^*|\, dm_n\). The last result (Theorem 4) deals with equivalent subspaces. Two subspaces \(M_1,M_2\) are unitarily equivalent if there exists \(\mathcal U:M_1\longrightarrow M_2\) such that \(\mathcal U (\theta f)=\theta (\mathcal U f)\), for \(\theta\in H^\infty(U^n)\) and \(f\in M_1\). It is seen that given \(f_1,f_2\) generalized inner functions, \(f_1H^2(U^n)\) and \(f_2H^2(U^n)\) are unitarily equivalent if \(|f_1^*|=|f_2^*|\) a.e. on \(\mathbb T^n\). Furthermore, any invariant subspace \(M\) of \(H^2(U^n)\) unitarily equivalent to a singly generated invariant subspace is also singly generated.