Adjoints of rationally induced composition operators (Q960564)

The aim of this paper is to provide a simple proof of a formula due to \textit{C.\,Hammond, J.\,Moorhouse} and \textit{M.\,E.\thinspace Robbins} [J.~Math.\ Anal.\ Appl.\ 341, 626--639 (2008; Zbl 1145.47021)], that describes the adjoint \(C_\varphi^*\) of a composition operator \(C_\varphi\), acting on the Hardy space \(H^2\), induced by a rational selfmap \(\varphi\) on the unit disc \(\mathbb{D}\) of the complex plane. The study of adjoints of composition operators was initiated by Cowen in 1988. His formula has been an essential tool in a number of investigations involving linear-fractionally induced composition operators. In the aforementioned article, Hammond, Moorhouse and Robbins corrected a formula due to \textit{C.\,C.\thinspace Cowen} and \textit{E.\,A.\thinspace Gallardo--Gutierrez} [J.~Funct.\ Anal.\ 238, No.\,2, 447--462 (2006; Zbl 1106.47023)], which emphasized the point that the determination of \(C_\varphi^*\) must involve multiple-valued weighted composition operators. The new, simpler proof of the formula is presented in Section~2 of the paper. Some variants are discussed in Section~3. In Section~4, the question of when \(C_\varphi^*\) is a sum of legitimate weighted composition operators is discussed. To do this, the concepts of outer regular and strongly outer regular rational maps are introduced. In the last section, conditions are given under which adjoint composition operators are compact perturbations of weighted composition operators. The article is very well written. Background material is presented in a very helpful preliminary section for expositional completeness. Many illustrative concrete examples of composition operators are discussed.