Defect operators, defect functions and defect indices for analytic submodules (Q1883596)

Let \(\mathcal H\) be either the Hardy space \(H^2(\mathbb D^n)\) on the unit polydisc \(\mathbb D^n\subset\mathbb C^n\), or the Hardy space \(H^2(\mathbb B^n)\) on the unit ball \(\mathbb B^n\subset\mathbb C^n\), or the Bergman space \(L^2_a(\mathbb B^n)\) on \(\mathbb B^n\). Consider a subspace \(M\) of \(\mathcal H\) invariant under multiplications by the coordinate functions \(z_1,\dots,z_n\) (in other words, viewing \(\mathcal H\) as a module over the polynomial ring \(\mathbb C[z_1,\dots,z_n]\), a submodule of \(\mathcal H\)). The defect function of \(M\) is, by definition, the function \(D_M\) on \(\mathbb D^n\) or \(\mathbb B^n\) defined by \(D_M(z)=\| P_M K_z\| ^2/\| K_z\| ^2\), where \(P_M\) is the orthogonal projection onto \(M\) and \(K_z(w)=K(w,z)\) is the reproducing kernel of \(\mathcal H\). It can be shown that there exists a unique operator \(\Delta_M\) on \(\mathcal H\) such that \(\langle\Delta_M K_z,K_z\rangle= D_M(z)\) \(\forall z\); one calls \(\Delta_M\) the defect operator of \(M\). The function \(D_M\) thus coincides with the Berezin transform of the projection \(P_M\), and for \(\mathcal H=L^2_a(\mathbb B^1)\) has also appeared under the name of ``majorization function'' in a paper of \textit{A. Aleman, St. Richter} and \textit{C. Sundberg} [J. Anal. Math. 86, 139--182 (2002; Zbl 1039.46023)]; also, for \(\mathcal H=H^2(\mathbb D^2)\), the function \(D_M\) is the restriction \(G^M(z,z)\) to the diagonal of the ``core function'' \(G^M\) of \(M\) from the author's earlier paper with \textit{R. Yang} [Indiana Univ. Math. J. 53, 205--222 (2004; Zbl 1062.47009], and the operator \(\Delta_M\) coincides with the ``core operator'' of \(M\) defined there. In the paper under review, the author surveys various properties of these two objects (e.g., the existence of the boundary values of \(D_M\), the positive definiteness of \(\Delta_M\), etc.), provides various examples, and above all discusses at length the problem of identifying the submodules \(M\) for which \(\Delta_M\) has finite rank (the ``finite defect problem''). In particular, a number of results on the latter problem are established for the particular case of submodules \(M\) which are generated by polynomials.