Rigidity of composition operators on the Hardy space \(H^{p}\) (Q2404647)

For Banach spaces \(E\), \(F\), and \(X\), a bounded linear operator \(U : E \rightarrow F\) fixes a copy of \(X\) in \(E\) if there is an infinite-dimensional subspace \(M \subseteq E\), \(M\) linearly isomorphic to \(X\), for which \(U|_{M}\) is bounded below on \(M\) (i.e., there exists \( c >0 \) such that \(\|Ux\| \geq c\|x\|\) for all \(x \in M\). The operator \(U \in {\mathcal{L}}(E,F)\), the space of bounded linear operators from \(E\) to \(F\), is said to be \(X\)-singular if \(U\) does not fix any copies of \(X\) in \(E\). Denote \(S_X(E,F)=\{U \in {\mathcal{L}}(E,F) : U \text{ is } X\text{-singular}\}\). Then \(U \in {\mathcal{L}}(E,F)\) is said to be strictly singular, denoted by \(U \in S(E,F)\), if \(U\) is not bounded below on any infinite-dimensional linear subspaces \(M \subset E\). Clearly, \(K(E,F) \subset S(E,F) \subset S_{l^p}(E,F)\), where \(K(E,F)\) denotes the class of compact operators \(X\) from \(E\) to \(F\). It is known that the classes \(S(E,F)\) and \(S_{l^p}(E,F)\) define norm-closed operator ideals in the sense of \textit{A. Pietsch} [Operator ideals. Amsterdam - New York - Oxford: North-Holland Publishing Company (1980; Zbl 0434.47030)] for any \(1 \leq p \leq \infty\). The paper under review investigates qualitative non-compact behaviours of the class of composition operators on \(H^p\). Let \(1 \leq p \leq \infty\), \(p \neq 2\), and \(\phi\) be an analytic self-map of \(\mathbb{D}\). The authors prove the following trichotomy property of the induced composition operator \(C_{\phi}\) which states that exactly one of the following holds: (i) \(C_{\phi}\) is compact on \(H^p\), (ii) \(C_{\phi}\) fixes a copy of \(l^p\) in \(H^p\), but does not fix any copies of \(l^2\) in \(H^p\), (iii) \(C_{\phi}\) fixes a copy of \(l^2\) (as well as of \(l^p\)) in \(H^p\) which, in particular, implies that \(C_{\phi} \in K(E,F)\) if and only if \(C_{\phi} \in S_{l^p}(H^p)\). The authors list a variety of examples of Banach spaces \(E\) (\(\neq H^p\)) of analytic functions on which the weak rigidity property \(C_{\phi} \in K(F)\) if and only if \(C_{\phi} \in S(E)\) holds. Furthermore, the authors sketch an alternative approach which suggests that the weaker rigidity property is likely to hold for many other concrete classes of operators on \(H^p\), including the well-known class of analytic Volterra operators on \(H^p\) [\textit{S. Miihkinen}, Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 145, No. 1, 165--175 (2017; Zbl 1353.47093)].