A mean counting function for Dirichlet series and compact composition operators (Q2032954)

The authors introduce a mean counting function for Dirichlet series which plays the same role in the theory of Hardy spaces of Dirichlet series as the Nevanlinna counting function does in the classical theory over the unit disk. In the paper \(\mathcal H^2\) stand for the Hardy space of Dirichlet series and the composition operator \(C_\phi(f)=f\circ \phi\) defines an analytic function in \(\mathbb C_{1/2}\) for any \(f\in \mathcal H^2\) and any analytic function \(\phi: \mathbb C_{1/2}\to \mathbb C_{1/2}\) where \(\mathbb C_{\theta}=\{s\in \mathbb C: \Re s>\theta\}\),. It is known (see [\textit{J. Gordon} and \textit{H. Hedenmalm}, Mich. Math. J. 46, No. 2, 313--329 (1999; Zbl 0963.47021)]) that \(C_\phi\) defines a bounded operator if and only if \(\phi(s)=c_0s+ \phi_0(s)= c_0 s+\sum_{n=1}^\infty c_n n^{-s}\) where \(\phi_0\) converges uniformly in \(\mathbb C_\varepsilon\) for any \(\varepsilon>0\) and satisfies the conditions: (a) if \(c_0=0\) then \(\phi_0(\mathbb C_0)\subseteq \mathbb C_{1/2}\) and (b) if \(c_0\ge 1\) then either \(\phi_0(\mathbb C_0)\subseteq \mathbb C_{0}\) or \(\phi_0=0\). Classifying the symbols to obtain compact composition operators remained as an open problem for long time. Let us denote \(\mathcal G_0\) the symbols in the case (a) where \(c_0=0\). If \(f\) is a Dirichlet series which converges uniformly in \(\mathbb C_\varepsilon\) for each \(w\ne f(+\infty)\) they introduce the mean counting function \[\mathcal M_f(w)=\lim_{\sigma\to 0^+} \lim_{T\to \infty} \frac{\pi}{T} \sum_{s\in f^{-1}(w), |\Im s|<T, \sigma<\Re s<\infty} \Re s .\] One of their main result establishes that for symbols in \(\mathcal G_0\) the mean counting function \(\mathcal M_\phi\) exists for every \(w\in \mathbb C_{1/2}\setminus {\phi(+\infty)}\) and satisfies \(\mathcal M_\phi(w)\le \log\Big|\frac{\bar w+\phi(+\infty)-1}{w-\phi(+\infty)}\Big|\). They actually study when the upper bound is achieved. Another important result in the paper is the analogue to the Stanton formula showing that if \(\phi \in \mathcal G_0\) then \[\|C_\phi(f)\|_{\mathcal H^2}^2= |f(\phi(+\infty))|^2+\frac{2}{\pi}\int_{\mathbb C_{1/2}}|f'(w)|^2\mathcal M_\phi(w) dw.\] As a consequence they manage to obtain that that \(C_\phi\) is compact on \(\mathcal H^2\) if and only if \(\lim_{\Re w \to (1/2)^+} \frac{\mathcal M_\phi(w)}{\Re w -\frac{1}{2}}=0,\) solving an old standing question.