Topological structure of the space of composition operators on \(\mathcal{H}^\infty\) of Dirichlet series (Q284113)

Let \(\mathcal{H}^\infty\) be the space of bounded analytic functions \(f\) on the right half-plane \(\mathbb{C}_0\) of \(\mathbb{C}\) that can be represented by a Dirichlet series, \(f(s)=\sum_n a_n n^{-s},\; s\in \mathbb{C}_0,\) endowed with the sup-norm. The paper under review studies the space \(\mathcal{C}(\mathcal{H}^\infty)\) of bounded composition operators on \(\mathcal{H}^\infty\) with the operator norm, specifically its path components. In order to estimate the distance between two such composition operators, the authors use the remarkable \textit{H. Bohr}'s description [J. Reine Angew. Math. 143, 203--211 (1913; JFM 44.0307.01)] of a Dirichlet series as an analytic function on the open unit ball of \(c_0.\) By comparing the distance between evaluation functionals in \(\mathcal{H}^{\infty^*}\) and the distance for the pseudohyperbolic metric in \(B_{c_0},\) they prove that, if the composition operators \(C_\varphi\) and \(C_\psi\) lie in the same path component, then \(\|C_\varphi-C_\psi\|<2. \) As a consequence, it is shown that, if \(C_\varphi\) is compact and \(C_\psi\) is non-compact, then they are not in the same path component. Somehow unexpectedly, the authors remark that there are pairs of compact composition operators lying in different path components. Also the compactness of \(C_\varphi-C_\psi\) is characterized. Reviewer's remark: Not only in the classical spaces \(H^\infty\) and \(H^\infty(B_{\mathbb{C}^n}),\) but also in the infinite dimensional setting of \(H^\infty(B_{c_0}),\) the compact composition operators lie in the same path component. Actually, in all these cases, the path components are open balls of radius \(2\); see [Integral Equations Oper. Theory 45, No. 1, 1--14 (2003; Zbl 1029.46053)] by \textit{R. Aron}, the reviewer and \textit{M. Lindström}.