Composition operators on de Branges-Rovnyak spaces (Q2421711)

Given \(\varphi\in L^\infty(\mathbb T)\), let \(T_\varphi:H^2\to H^2\), \(f\mapsto P_+(\varphi f)\) be the Toeplitz operator on the Hardy space \(H^2\), where \(P_+:L^2(\mathbb T)\to H^2\) is the orthogonal projection. If \(b\in H^\infty(\mathbb D)\) has norm \(||f||_\infty\leq1\), the authors associate to \(b\) the de~Branges-Rovnyiak space \[ \mathcal H(b)=(I-T_bT_{\overline b})^{1/2}H^2 \] and the set \(\mathfrak X(b)=\widetilde T_b H^2\), where \(\widetilde T_b:H^2\to H^2\), \(g\mapsto \overline z\,\overline g\,b-\overline z\, \overline{T_{\overline b}g}\). Endowed with appropriate inner products, these sets become Hilbert spaces such that \(\mathfrak X(b)\) is contractively contained in \(\mathcal H(b)\) and \(\mathcal H(b)\) in \(H^2\). The main intention of the paper is to unveil conditions on \(\varphi\) so that the composition operators \(C_\varphi: X\to H^2\) are compact, where \(X=\mathcal H(b)\) or \(X=\mathfrak X(b)\). The conditions involve, not surprisingly, the Nevanlinna counting function, as it was the case for \(X=H^2\) [\textit{J. H. Shapiro}, Ann. Math. (2) 125, 375--404 (1987; Zbl 0642.47027)].