Two coefficient conjectures for nonvanishing Hardy functions. I (Q2683644)

Let \(\mathbb{D}\) denote the open unit disk in the complex plane, and let \(H^p(\mathbb{D})\) denote the Hardy space consisting of analytic functions in the unit disk for which the integral \[ \sup_{0<r<1}\frac{1}{2\pi}\int_0^{2\pi}|f(re^{i\theta})|^p d\theta \] is finite. For \(1<p<\infty\), the norm of a function in \(H^p(\mathbb{D})\) is defined by \[ \Vert f\Vert_p=\sup_{0<r<1}\left(\frac{1}{2\pi}\int_0^{2\pi}|f(re^{i\theta})|^p d\theta\right)^{1/p},\] and for \(p=\infty\), \[\Vert f\Vert_\infty =\sup\{ |f(z)|: z\in \mathbb{D}\}. \] Let \(f(z)=\sum_{n=0}^\infty c_nz^n\) be a non-vanishing function in the closed unit ball of \(H^\infty (\mathbb{D})\). The so-called Krzyz conjecture [\textit{J. Krzyz}, ``Coefficient problem for bounded nonvanishing functions'', Ann. Polon. Math. 70, 314 (1968)] states that \[ |c_n|\le \frac{2}{e}, \] moreover, the equality is sharp and holds only for the function \[ \kappa_\infty (z)=\exp\left( {\frac{z-1}{z+1}}\right ). \] In the year 1977, a second conjecture regarding the coefficient problem for \(H^p\mathbb{(D)}\) for other values of \(p\) appeared. This latter conjecture due to Hummel, Scheinberg and Zalcman [\textit{J. A. Hummel} et al., J. Anal. Math. 31, 169--190 (1977; Zbl 0346.30013)] states that for a non-vanishing function \(f(z)=\sum_{n=0}^\infty c_nz^n\) in the Hardy space \(H^p (\mathbb{D})\) with \(\Vert f\Vert_p\le 1\); \[ |c_n|\le \left(\frac{2}{e}\right )^{1-1/p}, \] and this estimate is sharp. The paper under review is concerned with the second conjecture. The main result of this paper states that the second conjecture is valid for all values of of \(p=2m\) where \(m\) is a positive integer. The author's approach to prove the theorem is to employ the extremal coefficient problem of geometric function theory, as well as results from Teichmüller space theory.