Composition operators on the space of bounded harmonic functions (Q939141)

The authors start by comparing the results for compositions operators acting on the spaces \(H^\infty\) and \(h^\infty\) of bounded holomorphic or harmonic functions defined on the unit disc, respectively. In particular, they show that the difference \(C_\phi - C_\psi \) is compact on \(h^\infty\) if and only if it is compact in \(H^\infty\) or that \(C_\phi\) and \(C_\psi\) are in the same path component of the spaces of composition operators acting on \(H^\infty\) if and only if they are in the same component of set of composition operators acting on \(h^\infty\). The compactness of \(C_\phi - C_\psi \) is known to be equivalent to \(\lim_{|\phi(z)|\to 1}\rho(\phi(z),\psi(z))=\lim_{|\phi(z)|\to 1}\rho(\phi(z),\psi(z))=0\), where \(\rho(z_1,z_2)\) stands for the pseudo-hyperbolic distance [cf.\ \textit{T.\,Hosokawa, K.\,Izuchi} and \textit{D.-C. Zheng}, Proc.\ Am.\ Math.\ Soc.\ 130, No.\,6, 1765--1773 (2002; Zbl 1008.47031)]. To estimate the essential norm of \(\|C_\phi-C_\psi\|_e\), the present authors introduce the quantities \(\lambda_\infty(\phi, \psi)=\limsup_{|(\phi\psi)(z)|\to 1} \|P_{\phi(z)}- P_{\psi(z)}\|_1\) and \(\sigma_\infty(\phi, \psi)=\limsup_{|(\phi\psi)(z)|\to 1}\rho(\phi(z),\psi(z))\). They show that \(\|C_\phi-C_\psi\|_e\geq\lambda_\infty(\phi,\psi)\) if \(\|\phi\psi\|_\infty=1\) and find an upper estimate \(\|C_\phi-C_\psi\|_e\) to be either \(\max\{1,\lambda_\infty(\phi,\psi)\}\) or simply \(\lambda_\infty(\phi,\psi)\), depending on certain conditions on \(\phi\) and \(\psi\). Putting all their partial results together, the authors are able to completely compute the norm \(\|C_\phi-C_\psi\|_e\) as operators on \(h^\infty\).