A note on the essential norm of composition operators from \(H^p(B_N)\) to \(H^q(B_N)\) (Q379891)

Let \(D( { = B_1 } )\) denote the unit disc of \(\mathbb{C}\) and let \(\varphi\) be a holomorphic function on \(D\) with \(\varphi ( D ) \subseteq D\). Then \(C_\varphi f = f \circ \varphi\) defines a composition operator \( C_\varphi\) on the space of holomorphic functions in \(D\). In [Ann. Math. (2) 125, 375--404 (1987; Zbl 0642.47027)], \textit{J. H. Shapiro} expressed the essential norm of the composition operators \(C_\varphi :H^2 ( D ) \to H^2 ( D )\) in terms of the Nevanlinna counting functions of these \(\varphi\). In [Chin. Ann. Math., Ser. B 32, No. 2, 209--214 (2011; Zbl 1260.30022)], \textit{L. Luo} and \textit{K. Li} extended Shapiro result to the case of a composition operator \(C_\varphi :H^p ( D ) \to H^q ( D )\), \(1 < p \leq q < \infty \). Recently, for the case of several complex variables, \textit{Z.-H. Chen} et al. [Chin. Ann. Math., Ser. B 33, No. 6, 841--856 (2012; Zbl 1285.47029)] gave an upper bound of the essential norm of a composition operator on \(H^2 ( {B_n } )\), which involves the counting function in the higher dimensional value distribution theory defined by \textit{S.-S. Chern} [Ann. Math. (2) 71, 536--551 (1960; Zbl 0142.04802)]. The paper under the review extends the above theorem to the composition operator \(C_\varphi :H^p ( {B_N } ) \to H^q ( {B_N } ), 1 \leq p \leq q < \infty\). A sufficient condition for such operators to be bounded or compact is also given.