Diffeomorphisms of the circle and the Beurling-Helson theorem (Q1812402)

The author considers the algebra \(A({\mathbf T})\) of absolutely convergent Fourier series (on the circle). According to the Beurling-Helson theorem [\textit{A. Beurling} and \textit{H. Helson}, Math. Scand. 1, 120-126 (1953; Zbl 0050.33004)], the condition \(\|e^{in\varphi}\|_{A({\mathbf T})}=O(1)\), \(n\in{\mathbf Z}\), implies that \(\varphi(t)=mt+\alpha\). Note that this implies that the composition operators on \(A({\mathbf T})\) are given by such trivial mapping. \textit{J. P. Kahane} [Séries de Fourier absolument convergentes, Springer Verlag (1970; Zbl 0195.07602)] proved that if \(\varphi\) is continuous and piecewise linear (without being linear) then \(\|e^{in\varphi}\|_{A({\mathbf T})}\) behaves like \(\ln(|n|)\), and conjectured that the Beurling-Helson theorem can be improved in the following sense: do we have the conclusion when \(\|e^{in\varphi}\|_{A({\mathbf T})}=o(\ln(n))\) (\(|n|\rightarrow\infty\))~? In this paper, the author shows for \(\varphi\in C^1\) the norms \(\|e^{in\varphi}\|_{A({\mathbf T})}\) can grow closely to the \(O(\ln(n))\) condition. More precisely, the author proves the following theorem: Let \(\gamma(n)\) (\(n=1,2,\ldots\)) be an arbitrary sequence with \(\gamma(n)\rightarrow+\infty\). Then there exists a nowhere linear \(C^1\)-diffeomorphism \(\varphi\) of \({\mathbf T}\) onto itself such that \[ \|e^{in\varphi}\|_{A({\mathbf T})}=O(\gamma(|n|)\ln(|n|)). \] Here, nowhere linear means that \(\varphi\) is not linear on any interval \(I\subset{\mathbf T}\).