Rational tetra-inner functions and the special variety of the tetrablock (Q2236003)

The tetrablock \(\mathbb E=\{x\in \mathbb C^3: 1-x_1z-x_2w+x_3zw\neq 0 \text{ whenever } |z|,|w|<1\}\) is a domain introduced by Abouharaj, White, and Young in 2007 in connection with the \(\mu\)-synthesis problem. Its geometry has been intensively stated sinse then; among its most important geometric properties is the fact that the tetrablock a Lempert domain. Surprisingly, this particular turned out to be interesting for a large group of mathematicians working in complex analysis as well as in operator theory. One of the most important and crucial problems connected with the tetrablock is the interpolation, where the crucial role is played by rational inner analytic discs in \(\mathbb E\) (called rational \(\mathbb E\)-inner functions), that is, holomorphic rational maps sending the unit disc to the tetrablock and the unit circle to the distinguished (sometimes called Shilov) boundary of \(\mathbb E\). The paper under review deals with this issue. The central result of the article is a particular construction of inner functions whose properties are deeply and extensively studied in the sequel. A convex subset of the set of all rational \(\mathbb E\)-inner functions and its extreme points are also studied.