Sums of weighted composition operators on \(H^\infty\) (Q719605)

Recall that, if \(X\) and \(Y\) are Banach spaces and \(T:X\to Y\) is a bounded linear operator, then \(T\) is compact if \(T\) maps bounded sets into relatively compact ones, and \(T\) is completely continuous if it maps weakly convergent sequences into norm convergent sequences. Let \(H^\infty(\mathbb{D})\) denote the collection of bounded analytic functions on the unit disc \(\mathbb{D}\). One places a norm on this collection of functions with the sup norm over \(\mathbb{D}\). For a function \(u\in H^\infty(\mathbb{D})\) and for a selfmap of the disc \(\varphi\), one defines the weighted composition operator \(uC_{\varphi}:H^\infty(\mathbb{D})\to H^\infty(\mathbb{D})\) by \((uC_{\varphi}) f=u (f\circ\varphi)\). Clearly, \(uC_{\varphi}\) is linear and bounded on \(H^\infty(\mathbb{D})\). It is also well known that \(C_{\varphi}\) is compact on \(H^\infty(\mathbb{D})\) if and only if \(\left\|\varphi\right\|_\infty<1\). In this note, the authors characterize compactness of sums of weighted composition operators on the space \(H^\infty(\mathbb{D})\). To state the main result requires some additional notation. For \(N\geq 2\), let \(\varphi_1,\dots,\varphi_N\) be distinct selfmaps of \(\mathbb{D}\). Let \(\mathcal{Z}=\mathcal{Z}(\varphi_1,\dots, \varphi_n)\) be the family of sequences \(\{z_n\}\) in \(\mathbb{D}\) that satisfy the following conditions: {\parindent=7mm \begin{itemize}\item[(1)]\(\left| \varphi_j(z_n)\right| \to 1\) as \(n\to\infty\) for some \(1\leq j\leq N\); \item[(2)] \(\{\varphi_j(z_n)\}\) is a convergent sequence for every \(1\leq j\leq N\); \item[(3)] \(\left\{\frac{\varphi_{l}(z_n)-\varphi_j(z_n)}{1-\overline{\varphi_l(z_n)}\varphi_j(z_n)}\right\}\) is a convergent sequence for every \(1\leq j,l\leq N\). \end{itemize}} Set \(\rho(z,w)=\frac{\left| z-w\right|}{\left| 1-\overline{z}w\right|}\). For \(\{z_n\}\in\mathcal{Z}\), let \[ I(\{z_n\})=\{j: \left| \varphi_{j}(z_n)\right|\to 1\text{ as } n\to\infty,\; 1\leq j\leq N\} \] and \[ I_0(\{z_n\},t)=\{j\in I(\{z_n\}): \rho(\varphi_j(z_n),\varphi_t(z_n))\to 0 \text{ as } n\to\infty\}. \] Finally, let \(A(\overline{\mathbb{D}})\) denote the disc algebra on \(\overline{\mathbb{D}}\), which is the space on analytic functions on \(\mathbb{D}\) that have a continuous extension to \(\overline{\mathbb{D}}\). The main result is the following characterization. Let \(u_1,\dots, u_N\in H^\infty(\mathbb{D})\) be nonzero functions and \(\varphi_1,\dots, \varphi_N\) distinct analytic selfmaps of \(\mathbb{D}\) with \(\left\| \varphi\right\|_\infty=1\) for \(1\leq j\leq N\). Then the following conditions are equivalent: {\parindent=9mm \begin{itemize}\item[(i)]\(\sum_{j=1}^{N} u_j C_{\varphi_j}\) is compact on \(H^\infty(\mathbb{D})\); \item[(ii)]\(\sum_{j=1}^{N} u_j C_{\varphi_j}\) is completely continuous on \(H^\infty(\mathbb{D})\); \item[(iii)]\(\sum_{j=1}^{N} u_j C_{\varphi_j}:A(\overline{\mathbb{D}})\to H^\infty(\mathbb{D})\) is compact; \item[(iv)]\(\sum_{j=1}^{N} u_j C_{\varphi_j}:A(\overline{\mathbb{D}})\to H^\infty(\mathbb{D})\) is completely continuous; \item[(v)]\(\lim_{k\to\infty} \sum_{j\in I_0(\{z_n\},t)} u_j(z_k)=0\) for every \(\{z_n\}\in\mathcal{Z}\) and \(t\in I(\{z_n\})\). \end{itemize}}