Boundary behavior of analytic functions of two variables via generalized models (Q692588)

In this paper the authors use a generalization of the notion of a Hilbert space model of a holomorphic function \(f:{\mathbb D}^2\to{\mathbb D}\), where \({\mathbb D}\subset{\mathbb C}\) is the unit disk, examined in detail in previous works by two of the authors (see [\textit{J. Agler, J. E. McCarthy} and \textit{N. J. Young}, Math. Ann. 352, No. 3, 581--624 (2012; Zbl 1250.32005)]) to study the geometric function theory of the bidisk. In [loc. cit.] (see also [the reviewer, J. Anal. Math. 74, 275--306 (1998; Zbl 0912.32005)]), the authors proved that if \(\tau\) belongs to the Šilov boundary \({\mathbb T}^2\) of \({\mathbb D}^2\) and is such that \[ \liminf_{\lambda\to\tau}\frac{1-|f(\lambda)|}{1-\|\lambda\|_\infty}<+\infty, \] then there exists a holomorphic function \(h\) defined on the upper half-plane \({\mathbb H}\subset{\mathbb C}\) such that both \(h(z)\) and \(-zh(z)\) have nonnegative imaginary part for all \(z\in{\mathbb H}\) and such that the directional derivative \(D_{-\delta}f(\tau)\) exists for every direction \(-\delta\) pointing into the bidisk at~\(\tau\) and it is given by \[ D_{-\delta}f(\tau)=f(\tau)\overline{\tau_2}\delta_2 h\Big(\frac{\overline{\tau_2}\delta_2}{\overline{\tau_1}\delta_1}\Big), \] where \(f(\tau)\) denotes the non-tangential limit of \(f\) at~\(\tau\); the function \(h\) is called the slope function of \(f\) at \(\tau\). The first main theorem of this paper is a converse of this statement: given \(\tau\in{\mathbb T}^2\) and a holomorphic function \(h:{\mathbb H}\to{\mathbb C}\) such that both \(h(z)\) and \(-zh(z)\) have nonnegative imaginary part for all \(z\in{\mathbb H}\), there exists a holomorphic function \(f:{\mathbb D}^2\to{\mathbb D}\) such that \[ \liminf_{\lambda\to\tau}\frac{1-|f(\lambda)|}{1-\|\lambda\|_\infty}<+\infty, \] \(f(\tau)=1\) and \(h\) is the slope function of \(f\) at \(\tau\). The second main theorem of this paper is a representation formula for some holomorphic functions defined on \({\mathbb H}^2\). Indeed the authors prove that the following assertions are equivalent: (a) \(h\) has nonnegative imaginary part and \(\liminf_{y\to+\infty} yh(iy,iy)<\infty\), (b) there exist \(b\in{\mathbb R}\), a Hilbert space \(\mathcal M\), a vector \(\alpha\in\mathcal M\), a positive contraction \(Y\) on \(\mathcal M\) and a densely defined self-adjoint operator \(B\) on \(\mathcal M\) such that \[ h(z)=b-\bigl\langle \bigl(B+z_1Y+z_2(1-Y)\bigr)^{-1}\alpha, \alpha\bigr\rangle\quad\text{for all}\quad z\in{\mathbb H}^2. \]