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# Algebras generated by two bounded holomorphic functions

## 1. Introduction

Let $`g`$ be an inner function in the unit disk. It is possible to prove that if $`hH^2`$ satisfies the condition $`h(z_1)=h(z_2)`$ for every pair $`z_1,z_2𝔻`$ such that $`g(z_1)=g(z_2)`$, then $`h`$ is in the $`H^2`$-closure of the algebra of polynomials in $`g`$, $`[g]`$, and vice versa (the proof rests on the fact that, in the case where $`g(0)=0`$, the self-mapping $`g`$ of the circle is Lebesgue measure-preserving). In fact, this result holds for a class of functions much broader than inner functions. It means that the $`H^2`$-closure of $`[g]`$ is determined by the family of level sets of the function $`g`$. In particular, if $`g`$ is a Riemann mapping of $`𝔻`$ onto a polynomially convex domain $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ with a reasonable boundary, the algebra $`[g]`$ is dense in $`H^2(𝔻)`$ (on this topic, the interest reader may consult ).

It is natural to ask if a similar result holds for algebras generated by two bounded functions. In particular, if a pair of functions $`g_1,g_2`$ separates points of the unit disk, under what condition is the algebra $`[g_1,g_2]`$ dense in $`H^2`$?

The case of closures of algebras generated by two disk-algebra functions (closure is taken in the disk-algebra metric) was intensively studied (cf , , ). Some conditions for the density of such an algebra were found (we will discuss some of those results in comparison with those obtained in the present paper in section 7 below).

In a special case when both $`g_1`$ and $`g_2`$ are polynomials the result similar to the one for algebras with one generator holds. Namely, the following Theorem follows directly from Proposition 1 of .

Theorem A. Let $`p_1`$ and $`p_2`$ be two polynomials such that $`|p_1^{}(z)|+|p_2^{}(z)|>0`$ for all $`z`$ and their degrees are mutually prime. Then the algebra $`\overline{[p_1,p_2]}`$ has finite codimension in $`H^2`$. If, in addition, $`p_1`$ and $`p_2`$ separate points of the unit disk, then $`[p_1,p_2]`$ is dense in $`H^2`$.

The conditions that the derivatives of $`p_1`$ and $`p_2`$ do not vanish simultaneously and the degrees of $`p_1`$ and $`p_2`$ are mutually prime are too restrictive. As we will show below, they could be replaced with one much less restrictive condition.

If the generators are not polynomials, the condition of point separation is not sufficient for the density of the algebra in $`H^2`$. The following simple example illustrates this. Let $`\chi (z)=\mathrm{exp}\{\frac{z+1}{z1}\}`$ be the singular inner function determined by the unit point mass at $`1`$, and $`\psi (z)=z\chi (z)`$. Clearly, $`\chi `$ and $`\psi `$ separate points of the unit disk. At the same time, every polynomial in $`\chi `$ and $`\psi `$ belongs to the subspace $`L=\{1\}+\chi H^2`$, where $`\{1\}`$ is the one-dimensional subspace of $`H^2`$ consisting of constants, and $`\chi H^2`$ is the $`z`$-invariant subspace generated by $`\chi `$. Since the codimension of $`\overline{\chi H^2}`$ is infinite, this implies that $`[\chi ,\psi ]`$ is not dense in $`H^2`$.

In this example both generators have non-trivial singular parts. What happens if one of them is analytic in the closed disk? The following argument pertains to the case when one of the generators is a Blaschke product of order two. It shows that even in this case the $`H^2`$ codimension of the closure of an algebra could be infinite, while its generators separate points of the unit disk. The study of this simple case also gives the flavor of the work which we carry out in the body of the paper, where we deal with the case where one generator is a Blaschke product of any finite order $`n2`$.

Let $`|a|<1`$ and $`B(z)=cz\phi (z)`$, where $`\phi (z)=\frac{az}{1\overline{a}z}`$ is a Möbius involution of the disk, and $`c`$ a constant of modulus $`1`$. Given any $`z𝔻`$, there is at most another point $`w`$ of the disk such that $`B(w)=B(z)`$, given by $`w=\phi (z)`$. There is exactly one $`z_0𝔻`$ such that $`z_0=\phi (z_0)`$, and it is the only zero of $`B^{}`$. In the simplest case where $`B(z)=z^2`$, $`\phi (z)=z`$ and $`z_0=0`$.

Any function $`hH^p(𝔻)`$ which satisfies $`h\phi (z)=h(z)`$ can be rewritten $`h=h_1B`$, where $`h_1`$ is well-defined from the set-theoretic point of view because of the hypothesis, is holomorphic outside of the critical point of $`B`$ by taking local inverses, and is actually holomorphic everywhere by removing the isolated singularity. If $`p=\mathrm{}`$, $`h_1`$ is clearly bounded. If $`p<\mathrm{}`$, since the mapping from the unit circle to itself induced by $`B`$ is $`𝒞^{\mathrm{}}`$ with nonvanishing derivative and $`2`$-to-$`1`$, we have $`h_1H^p(𝔻)`$. We then write $`hH^p(B)`$.

Since $`B(0)=0`$, the composition operator $`C_B`$ ($`C_B(f)=fB`$) is an isometry of $`H^p`$ into $`H^p`$. Therefore, $`\overline{[B]}=H^p(B)`$, where $`[B]`$ stands for the polynomials in $`B`$, and the closure is taken either with respect to $`H^p`$ convergence when $`p<\mathrm{}`$, or to bounded pointwise convergence when $`p=\mathrm{}`$.

In particular, let $`gH^{\mathrm{}}(𝔻)`$, then $`g+g\phi `$ and

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)(z):=\frac{g(z)g\phi (z)}{z\phi (z)}$$

are in $`H^{\mathrm{}}(B)`$ (the possible singularity is easily seen to be removable). Furthermore,

$$gg\phi =2g(g+g\phi )$$

shows that $`gg\phi [H^{\mathrm{}}(B),g]\overline{[B,g]}`$.

We claim that the following statement is true.

Proposition. Let $`0<p<\mathrm{}`$ and $`gH^{\mathrm{}}(𝔻)`$. When the closure is taken with respect to $`H^p`$, $`\overline{[B,g]}=`$ $`\overline{[B]}+I(g)H^p(𝔻)`$ = $`H^p(B)+I(g)H^p(𝔻)`$, where $`I(g)`$ is the inner factor in the canonical inner-outer factorization of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$.

The proof of this result is as follows. Let $`hH^p(𝔻)`$. Then

$$h(z)\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)(z)=\frac{1}{2}(h(z)+h\phi (z))\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)(z)+\frac{1}{2}\frac{h(z)h\phi (z)}{z\phi (z)}(g(z)g\phi (z)).$$

By applying the above decomposition to the terms of a sequences of polynomials $`h_\nu `$ tending to $`h`$ in $`H^p`$, it is then easy to see that the first term is in $`\overline{[B]}\overline{[B,g]}`$, while $`\frac{h(z)h\phi (z)}{z\phi (z)}`$ is multiplied by $`gg\phi `$, which has been show above to be in $`\overline{[B,g]}`$. This proves that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)H^p(𝔻)\overline{[B,g]}`$, and $`\overline{\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)H^p(𝔻)}=I(g)H^p(𝔻)`$, by Beurling’s theorem.

Conversely, consider a monomial of the form $`M=g^\alpha B^\beta `$. If $`\alpha =0`$, then $`M[B]`$. If $`\alpha 1`$,

$`g^\alpha =\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(gg\phi )+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(g+g\phi )\right)^\alpha `$
(3) $`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2^\alpha }}{\displaystyle \underset{l=0}{\overset{\alpha }{}}}\left(\begin{array}{c}\alpha \\ l\end{array}\right)(gg\phi )^l(g+g\phi )^{\alpha l}H^{\mathrm{}}(B)+(gg\phi )H^{\mathrm{}}(B),`$
as can be seen by splitting the last sums into terms with $`l`$ even or odd respectively. Now $`gg\phi =(z\phi )\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)H^{\mathrm{}}(𝔻)`$.

This proves that $`[B,g][B]+I(g)H^p(𝔻)`$. To prove the corresponding inclusion for the $`H^p`$ closures, it will be enough to show that $`\overline{[B]}+I(g)H^p(𝔻)`$ is closed in $`H^p`$.

Each term in the sum is a closed subspace. For any $`fH^p(𝔻)`$, write

$$f=\pi _1(f)+\pi _2(f):=\frac{1}{2}(f+f\phi )+\frac{1}{2}(ff\phi ).$$

Then the maps $`\pi _1`$ and $`\pi _2`$ are continuous from $`H^p(𝔻)`$ to itself, $`\pi _1`$ is a projection onto $`\overline{[B]}=H^p(B)`$, and $`H^p(B)\text{Ker }\pi _2`$. Suppose that $`f=lim_n(x_n+y_n)`$, with $`x_nH^p(B)`$ and $`y_nI(g)H^p(𝔻)`$. Then

$$\pi _2(f)=\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}\left(\pi _2(x_n)+\pi _2(y_n)\right)=\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}\pi _2(y_n),$$

which proves the existence of the last limit. Since $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)\phi =\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$, we have $`I(g)\phi =I(g)`$, and if $`y_n=I(g)w_n`$, with $`w_nH^p(𝔻)`$, we have

$$\pi _2(y_n)=I(g)(w_nw_n\phi )I(g)H^p(𝔻),$$

therefore $`\pi _2(f)I(g)H^p(𝔻)`$ and $`f\overline{[B]}+I(g)H^p(𝔻)`$, q.e.d.

Corollary. $`[B,g]`$ is dense in $`H^p`$ if and only if $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ is an outer function.

In the case where $`B(z)=z^2`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ is not an outer function, it is easy to find an annihilator for $`\overline{[B]}+I(g)H^p(𝔻)`$ directly. Here $`\phi (z)=z`$. By Beurling’s theorem, there exists $`hH^q(𝔻)`$ such that $`_𝔻h\overline{f}=0`$, for any $`fI(g)H^p(𝔻)`$. We claim $`h_1:=hh\phi `$ is the annihilator we are looking for. Indeed, for any $`fI(g)H^p(𝔻)`$,

$$_𝔻(h\phi )\overline{f}=_𝔻h\overline{f\phi }=0,$$

since $`f\phi I(g)H^p(𝔻)`$. So $`_𝔻h_1\overline{f}=0`$.

Furthermore, if $`fH^p(B)`$, then $`f\phi =f`$ and

$$_𝔻(hh\phi )\overline{f}=_𝔻h\overline{f}_𝔻(h\phi )\overline{f}=_𝔻h\overline{f}_𝔻h\overline{f\phi }=0.$$

The case of a general Blaschke product $`B`$ of degree $`2`$ can be reduced (as far questions of density and the computation of $`I(g)`$ are concerned) to the case of $`z^2`$ by using a Möbius map from the disk to itself taking the unique critical point of $`B`$ to $`0`$. We omit the details.

If $`B(z)=z^2`$ and $`g(z)=\chi (z)=\mathrm{exp}\frac{z+1}{z1}`$ as above, then a computation shows that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\chi )`$ has no zeroes, and $`\chi `$ is continuous up to the boundary and non zero for any $`\zeta 𝔻\{1\}`$. It is then easy to see that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\chi )`$ is continuous on $`𝔻\{+1,1\}`$, so that any singular inner factor of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\chi )`$ would have to have its singular measure concentrated on those two points; but $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\chi )`$ admits a finite non-zero radial limit at each of those points, which precludes any singular inner factor. Thus, $`[z^2,\chi (z)]`$ is dense in $`H^2`$.

On the other hand, still for $`B(z)=z^2`$, if we pick $`g(z)=z\chi (z^2)`$, then $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)=\chi (z^2)`$, which is singular inner. Thus, $`[B,g]`$ is not dense in $`H^2`$. At the same time $`z^2`$ and $`g(z)`$ obviously separate points of $`𝔻`$ (which follows also from the fact that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ does not vanish inside $`𝔻`$). Moreover, by the above Proposition, for every function $`fH^2`$ which is orthogonal to the $`z`$-invariant subspace $`\chi H^2(𝔻)`$ the function $`h(z)=zf(z^2)`$ is orthogonal to $`[B,g]`$, so $`\overline{[B,g]}`$ has infinite codimension in $`H^2`$.

Notations and statements of results

In this paper we study algebras with two generators, one of which is a finite Blaschke product of degree $`n`$:

(4)
$$B(z):=\underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}\frac{a_jz}{1\overline{a}_jz},$$

where $`a_1,\mathrm{},a_n𝔻`$. Given a point $`z𝔻`$, there are exactly $`n`$ points in the unit disk (counting multiplicities), $`z:=\phi _0(z),\phi _1(z),\mathrm{},\phi _{n1}(z)`$ such that $`B(\phi _j(z))=B(z),j=1,\mathrm{},n1`$. For $`fH^{\mathrm{}}`$ we define $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_B(f)`$ by

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_B(f)(z)=\frac{_{j=1}^{n1}(f(z)f\phi _j(z))}{_{j=1}^{n1}(z\phi _j(z))}.$$

In what follows we usualy omit the subscript for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_B`$ and write $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)`$ instead of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_B(f)`$. It will be shown in section 2 that for all $`fH^{\mathrm{}}`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)`$ is analytic and, since it is obviously bounded, is an $`H^{\mathrm{}}`$ function. Moreover, for all $`0<p\mathrm{}`$ the mapping $`f\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)`$ can be extended as a continuous mapping from $`H^p`$ to $`H^{p/(n1)}.`$

The main result of this paper is the following Theorem.

Theorem B. Let $`𝒜`$ stand for the algebra of functions $`[B,g]`$ where $`gH^{\mathrm{}}`$. The closure of $`𝒜`$, denoted $`\overline{𝒜}`$, is taken with respect to the $`H^p`$ norm when $`p<\mathrm{}`$, and with respect to bounded pointwise convergence when $`p=\mathrm{}`$.

1. For every $`p>0`$ the closure of $`𝒜`$ in $`H^p`$ contains the $`z`$-invariant subspace $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)H^p`$.
2. $`\overline{𝒜}=H^p`$ if and only if $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ is outer.
3. $`\overline{𝒜}`$ has finite codimension in $`H^p`$ if and only if the inner part of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ is a finite Blaschke product.

As a corollary to the proof of Theorem B we obtain the following generalization of Theorem A (though $`p_1`$ is not a Blaschke product, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{p_1}(p_2)`$ below can be defined in a similar way. The details may be found in section 4).

Theorem C. Let $`p_1`$ and $`p_2`$ be two polynomials. If $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{p_1}(p_2)`$ is not identically equal to zero, then the algebra $`\overline{[p_1,p_2]}`$ has finite codimension in $`H^2`$. Furthermore, $`[p_1,p_2]`$ is dense in $`H^2`$ if and only if $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{p_1}(p_2)`$ does not vanish in the open unit disk.

In the case when $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)0`$, Theorem B (as well as Theorem C) does not give much information about the size of the closure of the algebra. It is shown in section 5 below that the identical vanishing of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ implies a strong functional relation between $`B`$ and $`g`$. The following Theorem gives a necessary and sufficient condition for the identical vanishing of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$.

Theorem D. The function $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ vanishes identically in the unit disk if and only if there exist a function $`\phi `$ from the disk to itself and a discrete subset $`A`$ of the disk such that for any $`z𝔻A`$, $`\mathrm{\#}\phi ^1(z)>1`$, such that $`B=B_1\phi `$ and $`g=g_1\phi `$, where $`B_1`$ and $`g_1`$ are functions defined on the disk.

A direct corollary to this result is

Theorem $`\text{D}^{}`$. The function $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ vanishes identically if and only if the closure of $`[B,g]`$ does not contain a non-trivial $`z`$-invariant subspace.

As another corollary to Theorem D we obtain the following result.

Corollary. If the order of the Blaschke product $`B`$ is a prime number, then, whenever the bounded analytic function $`g`$ is not in $`H^{\mathrm{}}[B]`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ does not vanish identicaly.

Finally, though the disk algebra $`A(\overline{𝔻})`$ is not our prime focus, our methods yield similar disk algebra results. It is easily seen that if $`g`$ is a disk algebra function, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ is also in the disk algebra. The following Theorem holds.

Theorem E.

1. Let $`gA(\overline{𝔻})`$. Then the closure of $`[B,g]`$ in $`A(\overline{𝔻})`$ contains $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)A(\overline{𝔻})`$.
2. $`[B,g]`$ is dense in $`A(\overline{𝔻})`$ if and only if $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ has no zeros in the closed unit disk.
3. $`\overline{[B,g]}`$ has finite codimension in $`A(\overline{𝔻})`$ if and only if $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ has no singular inner factor and only a finite number of zeros in the closed unit disk.

The structure of this paper is as follows. Section 2 is devoted to some auxiliary results related to level sets of the Blaschke product $`B`$. Here we introduce the function $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ and prove its analyticity. In section 3 we prove the “necessary” part of Theorem 1. In section 4 we show how Theorem C follows from Theorem B. In this section we also give an estimate of the number of generators of a closed submodule of $`H^2`$ over a polynomial algebra expressed in terms of the function $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. Section 5 deals with the case when $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)0`$. Theorems D and $`\text{D}^{}`$ are proved in this section. In section 6 we discuss $`z`$-invariant subspaces contained in the algebra’s closure. Section 7 is devoted to applications to the disk algebra case. Here we also compare our results with previous ones obtained by J. Wermer and R. G. Blumenthal without the assumption that one of the generators be a finite Blaschke product. Finally, in section 8 we conclude the proofs of Theorems B and E.

Acknowledgements. The authors would like to thank John Wermer for stimulating discussions and the references , , and Emma Previato for pointing out and explaining . We thank the referee for his careful comments and corrections.

## 2. Auxiliary results

### 2.1. Level sets of $`B`$.

For any $`z\overline{𝔻}`$, the set $`B^1(B(z))`$ can be written as $`\{z=:\phi _0(z),\phi _1(z),\mathrm{},\phi _{n1}(z)\}`$, which are the $`n`$ solutions (possibly equal) of a polynomial equation of degree $`n`$; the maps $`\phi _j`$ may be chosen holomorphic in $`z`$ near any point $`z^0`$ such that $`\phi _j(z^0)`$ is a simple zero of $`BB(z^0)`$ (equivalently, such that $`B^{}(z^0)0`$), but cannot be chosen to be globally continuous.

Notice in particular that $`B^{}`$ cannot vanish on the boundary $`𝔻`$ of the disc, and that, since they all map the circle into itself and never coincide, the maps $`(\phi _j,1jn1)`$ can be ordered by circular order, and thus are all individually well-defined in a neighborhood of the unit circle. Explicitly, we can write $`\phi _j(\theta )=\mathrm{exp}(i\alpha _j(\theta ))`$, where $`\theta <\alpha _j(\theta )<\theta +2\pi `$. A priori, those choices only hold locally. Then label the $`n1`$ distinct points of the unit circle $`\{\phi _1(1),\mathrm{},\phi _{n1}(1)\}`$ by demanding $`\alpha _j(0)<\alpha _{j+1}(0)`$, $`1jn2`$. Because $`B^{}(e^{i\theta })0`$ for any $`\theta `$, we never have $`lim_{\theta \theta _0}\alpha _j(\theta )=lim_{\theta \theta _0}\alpha _{j+1}(\theta )`$, so the set

$$U_j:=\{\theta [0,2\pi ):\alpha _j,\alpha _{j+1}𝒞^0[0,\theta ]\text{ and }\theta ^{}[0,\theta ],\alpha _j(\theta )<\alpha _{j+1}(\theta )\}$$

is both open and closed, so is equal to the whole interval $`[0,2\pi )`$ and passing to the limit and using $`B^{}(e^{i\theta })0`$ again, we will have

$$2\pi <\alpha _j(2\pi )<\alpha _{j+1}(2\pi )<4\pi ,1jn2,$$

and therefore $`\alpha _j(2\pi )=\alpha _j(0)+2\pi `$, $`0jn1`$, and we have liftings of continuous maps.

Furthermore, the quantities $`|\phi _j(e^{i\theta })\phi _k(e^{i\theta })|`$, $`0\theta 2\pi `$, $`0jkn1`$, are uniformly bounded away from $`0`$.

Near a multiple point $`z^0`$, so that $`BB(z_0)`$ has a zero of order $`N`$, the $`\phi _j`$ can be expressed as series in $`(zz^0)^{1/N}`$ (so they are actually continuous at the point $`z^0`$, if not in any neighborhood of it) (cf. for example ).

Symmetric polynomial (resp. rational) functions of $`\phi _j(z),0jn1`$ are well-defined and holomorphic (resp. meromorphic) on the whole disc. For a multiple point $`z^0`$, if $`A\{0,\mathrm{},n1\}`$ is such that $`\phi _j(z^0)=\phi _k(z^0)`$ for any $`j`$, $`kA`$, and $`\phi _j(z^0)\phi _k(z^0)`$ for any $`jA`$, $`kA`$, then the symmetric polynomial functions of $`(\phi _j(z),jA)`$ are well-defined and holomorphic in some neighborhood of $`z^0`$ (as can be seen by factoring the equation).

In the special case that is of interest to us, since $`\phi _0(z)=z`$ is always globally well-defined, the same is true of the symmetric functions of $`(\phi _j(z),1jn1)`$. More precisely, we have the following easy lemma. From now on, we shall always assume that $`B`$ vanishes at the origin, so in (4) we have $`a_1=0`$. This is no loss of generality as it can be obtained by composing our functions by a Möbius map of the disk.

###### Lemma 1.

Any symmetric polynomial (resp. rational function, resp. holomorphic function in the disk) in $`\phi _j,0jn1`$, can be written as a polynomial (resp. rational function) in $`B(z)`$.

Any symmetric polynomial (resp. rational function) in $`\phi _j,1jn1`$, can be written as a polynomial (resp. rational function, resp. holomorphic function in the disk) in $`z`$ and $`B(z)`$.

###### Proof.

Denote the elementary symmetric functions in $`n`$ (resp $`n1`$) indeterminates by

$`\sigma _k(X_0,\mathrm{}X_{n1})`$ $`:=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{A\{0,\mathrm{},n1\},\mathrm{\#}A=k}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{jA}{}}X_j,`$
$`\mathrm{resp}.\sigma _k^{}(X_1,\mathrm{}X_{n1})`$ $`:=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{A\{1,\mathrm{},n1\},\mathrm{\#}A=k}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{jA}{}}X_j.`$
It is clear that the $`\sigma _k(\phi _0(z),\mathrm{},\phi _{n1}(z))`$ depend only on $`B(z)`$. The polynomial equation which admits $`\{\phi _0(z),\mathrm{},\phi _{n1}(z)\}`$ as solutions is

$$\underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}(a_jX)=B(z)\underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}(1\overline{a}_jX).$$

Since $`a_1=0`$, the coefficient of $`X^n`$ is exactly $`(1)^n`$, and all the coefficients of $`X^m`$, $`0mn`$, are affine functions of $`B(z)`$, which proves the first assertion.

To prove the second assertion of the lemma, it will be enough to show that the $`\sigma _k^{}`$ are polynomials in $`X_0`$ and $`\sigma _k`$. But

$$\sigma _k(X_0,\mathrm{}X_{n1})=X_0\sigma _{k1}^{}(X_1,\mathrm{}X_{n1})+\sigma _k^{}(X_1,\mathrm{}X_{n1}),$$

with $`\sigma _0=\sigma _0^{}=1`$, so the relation $`\sigma _k^{}=\sigma _kX_0\sigma _{k1}^{}`$ allows us to conclude by induction. ∎

### 2.2. Auxiliary functions.

For any $`f𝒪(𝔻)`$, define

$$𝒟(f)(z):=\underset{j=1}{\overset{n1}{}}\left(f(z)f\phi _j(z)\right).$$

This is symmetric in $`(\phi _j(z),1jn1)`$, and, therefore, by Lemma 1 is globally holomorphic in $`z`$. In particular, $`𝒟(z):=_{j=1}^{n1}\left(z\phi _j(z)\right)`$ is a function which vanishes at $`z^0`$ if and only if $`B^{}(z^0)=0`$ (it can be seen to be a discriminant).

Define $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)(z):=𝒟(f)(z)/𝒟(z)`$. This is clearly meromorphic in the disc, but actually each singularity is removable. Indeed, near any point $`z^0`$ where for some $`j`$, $`\phi _j(z^0)=z^0`$, we have

$$f(z)=\underset{m0}{}\alpha _m(zz^0)^m,f(\phi _j(z))=\underset{m0}{}\alpha _m(\phi _j(z)z^0)^m,$$

where the second series converges in a neighborhood of $`z^0`$ since $`|\phi _j(z)z^0|`$
$`=|\phi _j(z)\phi _j(z^0)|C|zz^0|^{1/N}`$. Therefore,

$`f(z)f(\phi _j(z))=`$
$`(z\phi _j(z)){\displaystyle \underset{m1}{}}\alpha _m\left((zz^0)^{m1}+(zz^0)^{m2}(\phi _j(z)z^0)+\mathrm{}+(\phi _j(z)z^0)^{m1}\right),`$
and the infinite series converges in a neighborhood of $`z^0`$ because its general term is bounded by $`Cm|\alpha _m||zz^0|^{(m1)/N}`$. Let $`A:=\{j1:\phi _j(z^0)=z^0\}`$, then
$`_{jA}\left(f(z)f\phi _j(z)\right)/\left(z\phi _j(z)\right)`$ is clearly holomorphic in a neighborhood of $`z^0`$, and

$`{\displaystyle \underset{jA}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{\left(f(z)f\phi _j(z)\right)}{\left(z\phi _j(z)\right)}}`$
$`={\displaystyle \underset{jA}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{m1}{}}\alpha _m\left((zz^0)^{m1}+(zz^0)^{m2}(\phi _j(z)z^0)+\mathrm{}+(\phi _j(z)z^0)^{m1}\right).`$
The coefficients of the product series are easily seen to be symmetric in $`(\phi _j(z),jA)`$, therefore well-defined and holomorphic in a neighborhood of $`z^0`$, so the product on the left hand side of the equation, and therefore the function $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)`$, has a removable singularity at $`z^0`$, as required.

The zeros of the function $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)`$ have a simple interpretation in terms of self-intersection or cusps of the analytic graph $`\{(B(\zeta ),f(\zeta )),\zeta 𝔻\}^2`$.

###### Lemma 2.

Let $`z𝔻`$, then $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)(z)=0`$ if and only if one of the following occurs:

(i) There exists $`z^{}z`$ such that $`B(z^{})=B(z)`$ and $`f(z^{})=f(z)`$;

(ii) $`B^{}(z)=f^{}(z)=0`$.

###### Proof.

The product defining $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)`$ vanishes if and only if one its factors does, i.e. there exists $`j`$, $`1jn1`$, such that

$$\frac{f(z)f\phi _j(z)}{\left(z\phi _j(z)\right)}=0.$$

If $`z\phi _j(z)`$, this simply means that $`f(z)=f(\phi _j(z))`$, and we have case (i). If $`z=\phi _j(z)`$, $`B`$ is not locally invertible at $`z`$, therefore $`B^{}(z)=0`$, and the vanishing of the factor means that

$$0=\underset{z^{}z}{lim}\frac{f(z^{})f\phi _j(z^{})}{\left(z^{}\phi _j(z^{})\right)}=\underset{z^{}z}{lim}_0^1f^{}(tz^{}+(1t)\phi _j(z^{}))𝑑t,$$

which happens exactly when $`f^{}(z)=0`$. ∎

## 3. Necessary conditions for density or finite codimension

We shall now see how the function $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ defined above relates to the properties of the algebra $`[B,g]`$. The main result of this section is Theorem 5.

###### Lemma 3.

For $`0<p\mathrm{}`$, the mapping defined by $`f\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)`$ is continuous from $`H^p`$ to $`H^{p/(n1)}`$.

###### Proof.

We have seen that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)`$ is holomorphic on the whole disc. By the remarks at the beginning of §2.1, in a neighborhood of the unit circle the maps $`\phi _j`$ are all globally defined, holomorphic, with a non-vanishing derivative, it is clear that each function $`f\phi _j`$ is an $`H^p`$ function : holomorphic on a neighborhood of the unit circle in $`𝔻`$, bounded for $`p=\mathrm{}`$, and for $`p<\mathrm{}`$, $`f\phi _j(r\zeta )`$ tends to $`f\phi _j(\zeta )`$ in the $`L^p`$ norm on the unit circle. The $`H^p`$-norm of $`f\phi _j`$ is bounded by $`Cf_{H^p}=Cf_{L^p(𝔻)}`$.

Since $`|z\phi _j(z)|`$ is bounded from below in a neighborhood of the unit circle, a similar $`H^p`$ bound holds for $`(ff\phi _j)/(z\phi _j(z))`$. Now the map $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, seen as a map from $`H^p`$ to $`L^{p/(n1)}(𝔻)`$, is a composition of linear and $`(n1)`$-linear maps, so to check that it is continuous it is enough to see that

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)_{L^{p/(n1)}(𝔻)}Cf_p^{n1},$$

which follows from the above estimates and repeated use of Hölder’s inequality.

For $`p=\mathrm{}`$, the required estimate follows immediately from $`|z\phi _j(z)|`$ being bounded from below. ∎

###### Proposition 4.

Let $`𝒜:=[B,g]`$, and $`\overline{𝒜}`$ be the closure of $`𝒜`$ with respect to the $`H^p`$ norm, for some $`p(0,\mathrm{})`$. Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)=B_gS_gF_g`$ be the canonical factorization of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ into, respectively, Blaschke product, singular inner factor, and outer factor. Then for any $`f\overline{𝒜}`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)B_gS_gH^{p/(n1)}`$.

###### Proof.

Suppose first that $`f𝒜`$. Then, using the fact that $`B\phi _j=B`$ for any $`j`$,

$`f`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\alpha ,\beta 0}{}}a_{\alpha \beta }g^\alpha B^\beta \text{ implies}`$
$`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)=\mathrm{\Gamma }(g){\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{n1}{}}}\left({\displaystyle \underset{\alpha 1,\beta 0}{}}a_{\alpha \beta }B^\beta \left[{\displaystyle \underset{l=0}{\overset{\alpha 1}{}}}g^{\alpha 1l}(g\phi _j)^l\right]\right),`$
so $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)[H^{\mathrm{}}(B),g]`$, because the last product involves a finite set of powers of $`B`$ and polynomials which are symmetric in the $`\{g\phi _j,1n1\}`$, and therefore can be expressed as polynomials of $`g`$ and bounded holomorphic functions symmetric in $`\{g\phi _j,0n1\}`$, which are then necessarily bounded holomorphic functions of $`B`$.

Suppose $`𝒜f_\nu f`$ in $`H^p`$. By the above we have $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f_\nu )=\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)q_\nu `$, $`q_\nu [H^{\mathrm{}}(B),g]`$. Now in the canonical factorization, the harmonic function $`\mathrm{log}|F_g|`$ is the Poisson integral of its boundary values, while $`\mathrm{log}|S_g|`$ is the Poisson integral of a singular measure $`\sigma _g`$, where $`\sigma _g`$ is a positive measure (carried on a Borel set of Lebesgue measure $`0`$). Factoring both $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f_\nu )`$ and $`q_\nu `$, and using the essential uniqueness of the factorization, we see that

$$\sigma _{f_\nu }\sigma _g$$

for all indices $`\nu `$ (their difference is a positive measure). Since $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f_\nu )`$ must converge to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)`$ in $`H^{p/(n1)}`$, $`\sigma _{f_\nu }`$ converges weakly to $`\sigma _f`$, so $`\sigma _f\sigma _g`$, which implies that $`S_g`$ divides $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)`$.

On the other hand, $`H^{p/(n1)}`$ convergence implies convergence of the function and all its derivatives uniformly on any compactum, and therefore since each $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f_\nu )`$ has zeroes at the points of $`B_g^1(0)`$ with at least the same multiplicity, the same holds true for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)`$. Since dividing by $`B_gS_g`$ only affects the boundary values of $`\mathrm{log}|\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)|`$ on a set of measure $`0`$, the remaining function is still in $`H^{p/(n1)}`$, q.e.d. ∎

###### Theorem 5.

1. If $`𝒜`$ is dense in $`H^p`$, then $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ is an outer function.
2. If $`\overline{𝒜}`$ has finite codimension in $`H^p`$, then the inner part of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ is a finite Blaschke product (and in particular there is no singular inner factor).

###### Proof.

If $`z\overline{𝒜}`$, then by Proposition 4, $`1=\mathrm{\Gamma }(z)B_gS_gH^{p/(n1)}`$, which implies that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ has no inner factor by Beurling’s theorem.

If $`\overline{𝒜}`$ has finite codimension $`m`$, then it must contain a non-zero polynomial $`P`$ of degree $`m`$. Then $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(P)`$ is analytic across the unit circle, so cannot admit a singular inner factor. On the other hand, any zero $`a`$ of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ in $`𝔻`$ provides a continuous functional on $`H^p`$ which vanishes on $`\overline{𝒜}`$ : in the case (i) of Lemma 2, the functional is $`ff(a)f(a^{})`$, in the case (ii), $`ff^{}(a)`$. It is easy to see that if the set of zeros of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ is infinite, this family of functionals is not of finite dimension, which contradicts the hypothesis. ∎

## 4. Main results: sufficient conditions for density, generating sets for submodules

###### Theorem 6.

For any $`p>0`$, $`\overline{𝒜}`$ contains $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)H^p`$.

Let us defer the proof of Theorem 6 to Section 8 in favor of a few observations.

First, by Beurling’s theorem again, if $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ is outer, then the closure of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)H^p`$ is $`H^p`$ itself; and if the inner factor of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ reduces to a finite Blaschke product $`B_g`$, then the closure of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)H^p`$ is $`B_gH^p`$. Since a function $`fH^p`$ is divisible by $`B_g`$ if and only if it vanishes on the zeroes of $`B_g`$ to an order greater or equal than that of $`B_g`$, $`B_gH^p`$ is then a subspace of finite codimension.

So Theorem 6 has as an immediate consequence the converse statements to those in Corollary 5, and together they make up Theorem B from the introduction.

###### Corollary 7.

1. $`𝒜`$ is dense in $`H^p`$ if and only if $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ is an outer function.
2. $`\overline{𝒜}`$ has finite codimension in $`H^p`$ if and only if the inner part of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ is a finite Blaschke product (and in particular there is no singular inner factor).

An application of Theorem 6 to the polynomial case gives the following extension of the results proved in .

Let $`p(z)`$ and $`q(z)`$ be two polynomials. An argument similar to the one above alows to define $`𝒟_p(q)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_p(q)`$ by

$$\begin{array}{c}𝒟_p(q)(z):=_{j=1}^{n1}(q(z)q(\phi _j(z))\hfill \\ \mathrm{\Gamma }_p(q)(z):=𝒟_p(q)(z)/𝒟_p(z)\hfill \end{array}$$

where again $`\{z=\phi _0(z),\phi _1(z),\mathrm{},\phi _{n1}(z)\}`$ are $`n`$ roots of the polynomial equation (in $`t`$) $`p(t)=p(z)`$, and $`n=\text{deg}p`$. The same argument shows that $`𝒟_p(q)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_p(q)`$ are polynomials.

The following result has Theorem C as a special case.

###### Theorem 8.

Let $`p_1,\mathrm{},p_m[z]`$. Suppose that for some $`1jn`$, at least one of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{p_j}(p_k),k=1,2,\mathrm{},m,kj`$, is not identically zero. Then $`\overline{𝒜}=\overline{[p_1,\mathrm{},p_m]}`$ has finite codimension in $`H^2`$, and every closed $`𝒜`$-submodule of $`H^2`$ has at most $`\mathrm{min}_{kj}\{𝒩(\mathrm{\Gamma }_{p_j}(p_k))\}`$ generators, where for a polynomial $`R`$, $`𝒩(R)`$ is the number of zeros of $`R`$ in the unit disk.

###### Proof.

Let $`M`$ be a positive number large enough so that the interior $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ of some component of the lemniscate $`\{z:|p_j(z)|=M\}`$ contains the unit disk, and $`p^{}(z)0`$ whenever $`z\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Denote by $`\psi `$ the Riemann mapping from $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ onto the unit disk , which maps $`p_j(0)`$ to the origin. Then $`\psi `$ is analytic in $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}`$ and the Hardy space in $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, $`H^2(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ (we equip $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ with harmonic measure), is isometric to $`H^2`$ in the unit disk: an isometry is being given by

$$F:ff\psi .$$

Note that $`F(p_j)`$ is a finite Blaschke product and $`F(p_l),l=1,\mathrm{},m`$, are analytic in a neighborhood of the unit disk. This implies that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{F(p_j)}(F(p_k))=F(\mathrm{\Gamma }_{p_j}(p_k))`$ have trivial singular parts in their inner-outer factorization for all $`k=1,\mathrm{},m`$ and their inner parts are finite Blaschke products. By Theorem 6, $`F(\overline{𝒜})`$ contains $`z`$-invariant subspaces generated by these Blaschke products. In particular this implies that for every fixed $`k`$, $`𝒜`$ contains all polynomials vanishing with greater or equal multiplicity at all zeros of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{p_j}(p_k)`$ in $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Since the $`H^2(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ convergence implies $`H^2`$-convergence in the unit disk, Lemma 3 of  implies that the closure of $`𝒜`$ in $`H^2`$ contains the $`z`$-invariant subspace determined by the zeros of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{p_j}(p_k)`$ which lie in the interior of the unit disk, and, therefore, has finite codimension. Let $`B_k`$ be the inner part of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{p_j}(p_k)`$. Thus, since every $`𝒜`$-submodule $`S`$ of $`H^2`$ is a $`[B_k]`$-submodule, the number of generators of $`S`$ as $`𝒜`$-module does not exceed the number of generators of $`S`$ as $`[B_k]`$-module. By the Wold decomposition theorem this last number does not exceed the order of $`B_k`$ (see  for the details). ∎

###### Corollary 9.

If $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{p_j}(p_k),k=1,\mathrm{},m,kj`$ have no common zeros in the unit disk, then $`𝒜=[p_1,\mathrm{},p_m]`$ is dense in $`H^2`$.

###### Proof.

Let $`a_1,\mathrm{},a_N`$ be common zeros in $``$ of the polynomials $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{p_j}(p_k)`$. There are polynomials $`q_k,k=1,\mathrm{},m,kj`$ such that

$$\underset{k}{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{p_j}(p_k)(z)q_k(z)=R(z)=\underset{l=1}{\overset{N}{}}(za_l).$$

By Theorem 6 $`\overline{R(z)H^2}`$ is in $`\overline{𝒜}`$. Since $`|a_l|1`$, $`R(z)`$ is outer, and $`\overline{R(z)H^2}=H^2`$. ∎

Note that in general the estimate given by Theorem 8 is sharp. As an example consider the algebra $`𝒜=[p_1,p_2]`$ where $`p_1(z)=z(za),p_2(z)=z^2(za)`$ for some $`|a|<1`$. It is easily seen that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{p_1}(p_2)(z)=p_1(z)`$. Thus, by Theorem 8 every closed $`𝒜`$-submodule of $`H^2`$ has at most two generators. Let $`M`$ be the subspace of $`H^2`$ consisting of all functions vanishing at some point $`b`$ in the unit disk, different from $`a`$ and $`0`$. Clearly $`M`$ is a closed $`𝒜`$-submodule which is not singly generated. Indeed, for every function $`gM`$ such that $`g(0)0`$ and $`g(a)0`$, there exists a function $`hM`$ such that $`g(0)h(a)h(0)g(a)`$, and, therefore, $`g`$ does not generate $`M`$ as $`𝒜`$-module. If $`g(0)=0`$ or $`g(a)=0`$, then since for any $`f𝒜`$, $`f(0)=f(a)=0`$, the $`𝒜`$-module generated by $`g`$ cannot contain $`zb`$, for instance.

## 5. Case $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)0`$.

At the other end of the spectrum from the density cases, there are cases when $`\overline{𝒜}`$ cannot contain any non-trivial invariant subspace — the simplest case would be when $`B`$ and $`g`$ are both even functions, for instance: then any function in $`\overline{𝒜}`$ is also even, and multiplying by $`z`$ takes us out of that subset. In that case, naturally, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ vanishes identically, so Theorem 6 becomes vacuous. One would then like to know when $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)0`$.

A typical example of a situation when $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)0`$ is when there exists a function $`u`$ such that $`B=B_1u`$ and $`g=g_1u`$, and such that there exists a non-empty open set $`\mathrm{\Omega }𝔻`$ such that for any $`z\mathrm{\Omega }`$, there exists $`z^{}z`$, $`z^{}𝔻`$, such that $`u(z^{})=u(z)`$. This implies that $`B(z^{})=B(z)`$ and $`g(z^{})=g(z)`$, therefore $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ vanishes on $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, and thus on $`𝔻`$.

Theorem D states that this is how the identical vanishing of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ always arises; it follows immediately from the following theorem.

Let us introduce a notation for the (finite) set of $`z`$ such that $`\{\phi _j(z),0jn1\}`$ is made up of fewer than $`n`$ points:

(5)
$$𝒮_0:=\{z:B^{}(\phi _j(z))=0\mathrm{for}\mathrm{some}0jn1\}.$$

###### Theorem 10.

The function $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ vanishes identically on the unit disk if and only if there exists an open set $`\mathrm{\Omega }𝔻𝒮_0`$ such that $`𝔻\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is discrete, and an integer $`m2`$ such that for any $`z\mathrm{\Omega }`$, the set $`B^1(B(z))`$ is partitioned into subsets $`A_p`$ of cardinality $`m`$ such that $`g`$ is constant on each $`A_q`$.

Before passing to the proof of this theorem, notice that this means in particular that $`m`$ must divide $`n`$, therefore we obtain the following

###### Corollary 11.

If $`n`$ is prime, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)0`$ implies that $`g`$ must in fact be a function of $`B`$, and $`\overline{𝒜}=\overline{[B]}`$.

Another immediate corollary to Theorem 10 is the following result.

###### Corollary 12.

The function $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ vanishes identically in the unit disk if and only if the only $`z`$-invariant subspace of $`H^p`$ contained in $`\overline{𝒜}`$ is the trivial subspace $`\{0\}`$.

###### Proof.

If $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)0`$, a non-trivial $`z`$-invariant subspace contained in $`\overline{𝒜}`$ is given by Theorem 6.

If $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)0`$ and $`M`$ is a nontrivial $`z`$-invariant subspace contained in $`\overline{𝒜}`$, choose $`fM\{0\}`$. Choose a point $`a\mathrm{\Omega }\{0\}`$ such that $`f(a)0`$; then for any $`ba`$ such that $`B(b)=B(a)`$ and $`g(b)=g(a)`$ (the above Theorem guarantees the existence of such points), we must have $`f(b)=f(a)`$, but $`bf(b)af(a)`$, which shows that $`zf\overline{𝒜}`$, thus $`zfM`$ and $`M`$ is not $`z`$-invariant. ∎

###### Proof of Theorem 10.

Define an integer-valued function in the disk by

$$C(z):=\mathrm{\#}\{wB^1(B(z)):g(w)=g(z)\}.$$

The hypothesis says that $`C(z)2`$ for any $`z\mathrm{\Omega }_0:=𝔻𝒮_0`$.

We claim that $`C`$ is upper-semicontinuous on $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$.

Indeed, let $`z_0\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$, and let $`\{z_\nu \}`$ a sequence tending to $`z_0`$ such that $`lim_\nu \mathrm{}C(z_\nu )=lim\; sup_{zz_0}C(z)`$. We may assume that $`\{z_\nu \}`$ is contained in a neighborhood of $`z_0`$ on which $`\phi _j`$, $`1jn1`$ are all well-defined and distinct. For each $`\nu _+`$, there exists a subset $`A_\nu \{0,\mathrm{}n1\}`$ such that $`g\phi _j(z_\nu )=g(z_\nu )`$ if and only if $`jA_\nu `$, and $`\mathrm{\#}A_\nu =C(z_\nu )`$. For $`\nu `$ large enough, this is constant and equal to $`lim\; sup_{zz_0}C(z)`$. Since there is only a finite number of subsets of $`\{0,\mathrm{}n1\}`$, we may also assume, by passing to a subsequence again denoted by $`\{z_\nu \}`$, that $`A_\nu =A`$ is a constant subset. Therefore for any $`jA`$,

$$g\phi _j(z_0)=\underset{\nu \mathrm{}}{lim}g\phi _j(z_\nu )=\underset{\nu \mathrm{}}{lim}g(z_\nu )=g(z_0).$$

So $`C(z_0)lim\; sup_{zz_0}C(z)`$, as claimed.

Let $`m:=\mathrm{min}_{z\mathrm{\Omega }_0}C(z)2`$. This makes sense since $`C`$ is integer-valued, and since it is u.s.c. the set

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_1:=\{z\mathrm{\Omega }_0:C(z)=m\}$$

is open.

We claim that $`E:=\mathrm{\Omega }_0\mathrm{\Omega }_1`$ (and therefore $`𝔻\mathrm{\Omega }_1`$) only has isolated points.

Indeed, let $`E^{}`$ be the set of non-isolated points within $`E`$. Since $`E`$ is closed in $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$, so is $`E^{}`$. On the other hand, suppose $`z_0E^{}`$. Restrict attention to a neighborhood of $`z_0`$ where a continuous choice of $`\phi _j`$ can be made. Then, reasoning as in the proof of the previous claim, we can find a sequence $`\{z_\nu \}E`$ tending to $`z_0`$ and a set $`A\{0,\mathrm{}n1\}`$ such that $`g\phi _j(z_\nu )=g(z_\nu )`$ if and only if $`jA`$. Then, for any $`jA\{0\}`$, the analytic function $`gg\phi _j`$ vanishes on a subset which has a limit point, and therefore is identically $`0`$ in a small disk $`z_0`$. This proves that any point in this disk is in $`E`$, and therefore in $`E^{}`$. So $`E^{}`$ is also an open set. Since $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$ is connected, if $`E^{}\mathrm{}`$, then $`E^{}=\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$, which is absurd. Therefore $`E^{}=\mathrm{}`$, q.e.d.

Now let

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_2:=\{z\mathrm{\Omega }_1:\phi _j(z)\mathrm{\Omega }_1,1jn1\}.$$

Then $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0\mathrm{\Omega }_2`$ (and therefore $`𝔻\mathrm{\Omega }_2`$) only has isolated points.

Indeed, $`z\mathrm{\Omega }_0\mathrm{\Omega }_2`$, if and only if there is some $`j\{0,\mathrm{},n1\}`$ such that $`w=\phi _j(z)`$, $`w\mathrm{\Omega }_0\mathrm{\Omega }_1`$. Take a point $`z_0\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$, and a compact neighborhood of $`U`$ of $`z_0`$; then $`B^1(B(U))`$ is a compact set (since a finite Blasche product is a proper map from the disk to itself), therefore can only contain a finite number of points from $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0\mathrm{\Omega }_1`$ by the above claim, so there can only be a finite number of points in $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0\mathrm{\Omega }_2`$ in $`U`$, q.e.d.

For any point $`z\mathrm{\Omega }_2`$, the fiber $`B^1(B(z))`$ is made up of exactly $`n`$ points, and each point in this fiber is part of a group of $`m`$ points for which the values of $`g`$ coincide. So the theorem holds with $`\mathrm{\Omega }=\mathrm{\Omega }_2`$. ∎

## 6. $`z`$-invariant subspaces in the algebra’s closure

In general one may ask, first, how large can be the $`z`$-invariant subspaces contained in the closure of $`𝒜=[B,g]`$? and, second, can $`[B,g]`$ be included in some closed space that is easy to describe in terms of the well-understood $`[B]`$ and the function $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$? In the introduction both questions were answered in the case of Blaschke products of degree two. In this section we consider the case of Blaschke products of higher degree.

As to the second question, all we can say for now is that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ can be expressed as a polynomial of degree at most $`n1`$ in $`g`$ with coefficients in $`\overline{[B]}`$ (this follows from the proof of Theorem 6, see below). Therefore all elements of $`[B,g]`$ are algebraic of degree at most $`n1`$ over the ring $`\overline{[B]}[\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)]\overline{[B]}+\overline{\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)H^p}`$.

The first question is not easy to answer in full generality. The following examples, reflecting respectively cases where the inner factor of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ has either zeros inside the disk and singular factors at the boundary, suggest that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)H^p`$ is optimal in certain cases.

Example 1. Suppose $`B(z)=z^n`$ and $`g(z)=z^m`$.

Then if the greatest common divisor of $`n`$ and $`m`$ is $`\delta 2`$, both $`B`$ and $`g`$ are expressed in terms of the function $`u(z)=z^\delta `$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)(z)0`$ and $`\overline{𝒜}`$ contains no nontrivial invariant subspace.

So assume that $`n`$ and $`m`$ are relatively prime. Then $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)(z)=cz^{(n1)(m1)}`$, where $`c=c(n,m)`$ is a nonzero complex constant.

Here $`[B,g]`$ is the span of the monomials $`\{z^k,kA\}`$, where $`A:=\{an+bm,a,b𝐙_+\}`$, and its closure is made up of the functions $`fH^p`$ such that $`f^{(k)}(0)=0`$ for $`kA`$.

It is easy to see that the largest invariant subspace that can be contained in the closure of this algebra will be of the form $`z^NH^2`$, where $`N`$ is the smallest integer such that any $`\{N,N+1,\mathrm{}\}A`$. It is a classical result in arithmetic that $`N=(n1)(m1)`$ (cf \[8, Theorem 1.17, p. 39\], see also ).

Note also that in this case the full algebra $`[B,g]`$ is obtained by adjoining the $`(n1)`$-th root of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ to $`[B]`$ (so in this case the comments made above about the second question give the complete answer). The codimension of the closure of $`[B,g]`$ is $`(1/2)(n1)(m1)`$ (cf \[8, exercise 7, p. 41\], or ).

Example 2. Let $`B(z)=z^n`$ and $`g(z)=z\chi (z^n)`$ (as above $`\chi `$ is the singular inner function determined by the unit point mass at $`1`$). Then $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)(z)=\chi (z^n)^{n1}=S_g(z)`$. Note that for any $`\alpha <1/(n1)`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)^\alpha H^p\overline{𝒜}`$.

Indeed, let $`f(z):=z\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)(z)^\alpha =z\chi (z^n)^{(n1)\alpha }`$, then $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)(z)=\chi (z^n)^{(n1)^2\alpha }`$, which is not divisible by $`S_g`$ since $`(n1)^2\alpha <n1`$. Thus, by Proposition 4, $`f\overline{𝒜}`$.

There is a partial necessary condition about the vanishing of any inner function $`J`$ such that $`JH^p\overline{𝒜}`$.

###### Proposition 13.

Let $`\overline{𝒜}=\overline{[B,g]}`$, $`B`$ a Blaschke product of degree $`n`$. Suppose that $`JH^p\overline{𝒜}`$, where $`J`$ is inner. Then, for any $`a𝔻`$ such that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)(a)=0`$, we have $`J(a)=0`$.

###### Proof.

Let $`a`$ be a zero of $`B_g`$ (recall that $`B_g`$ is the Blaschke part of the canonical factorization of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$).

Case 1. Suppose that $`a\phi _j(a)`$, for $`1jn1`$.

Then set $`f(z):=_1^{n1}(z\phi _j(a))`$. By our hypothesis, $`fJ\overline{𝒜}`$, so by Proposition 4, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(fJ)`$ is divisible by $`B_g`$ .

We have

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(fJ)(z)=\underset{j=1}{\overset{n1}{}}\frac{f(z)J(z)f\phi _j(z)J\phi _j(z)}{z\phi _j(z)},$$

and $`f\phi _j(a)=0`$ for $`1jn1`$. So

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(fJ)(a)=\frac{(f(a)J(a))^{n1}}{_{j=1}^{n1}(a\phi _j(a))}=0,$$

which implies $`J(a)=0`$.

Case 2. Suppose that $`a=\phi _j(a)`$ for some $`j`$.

Now $`B_g(a)=0`$ is due to the fact that $`B^{}(a)=g^{}(a)=0`$. Then any $`f\overline{𝒜}`$ must satisfy $`f^{}(a)=0`$, but if we had $`J(a)0`$, then for $`f(z):=zJ(z)`$ we would have $`f^{}(a)0`$, so $`JH^p\overline{𝒜}`$. ∎

## 7. Applications to the disk algebra

Let us consider the special case where the function $`g`$ is a member of the disk algebra, that is to say $`gA(\overline{𝔻}):=𝒪(𝔻)𝒞(\overline{𝔻})`$, the algebra of holomorphic functions continuous up to the boundary of the disk, endowed with the uniform norm on $`\overline{𝔻}`$. One is now interested in $`\overline{𝒜}`$, where the closure is taken in $`A(\overline{𝔻})`$.

The closure of $`[f,g]`$ in $`A(\overline{𝔻})`$ has been studied by several authors, see e.g. , . We can apply the methods of the previous sections in the case when $`g`$ is continuous up to the unit circle. Notice in particular that then $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)A(\overline{𝔻})`$, and whenever $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ is zero-free, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)A(\overline{𝔻})=A(\overline{𝔻})`$.

###### Theorem 14.

$`\overline{𝒜}`$ contains $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)A(\overline{𝔻})`$.

###### Corollary 15.

1. $`𝒜`$ is dense in $`A(\overline{𝔻})`$ if and only if $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ has no zeros in the closed unit disk (in particular $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ is then outer).
2. $`\overline{𝒜}`$ has finite codimension in $`A(\overline{𝔻})`$ if and only if $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ has no singular inner factor, and only a finite number of zeros in the closed unit disk.

The proofs of both results rely on the proof of Theorem 6 so we will postpone them until the end of section 8.

Comparison with previous results

The earliest results which we know in this direction have been obtained by John Wermer in , where the uniform closure of an algebra of the form $`[f,g]`$ was considered, with $`f,g`$ analytic in a neighborhood of the closed disk (actually, Wermer’s results hold in the more general context of a domain bounded by a simple curve on a Riemann surface) and $`f^{}(\zeta )0`$ for any $`\zeta 𝔻`$.

Then Theorem 1.1 in  states that $`\overline{[f,g]}=A(\overline{𝔻})`$ if and only if the algebra separates points of the closed disk and the derivatives of the generators never vanish simultaneously.

In our case (where $`f=B`$, a finite Blaschke product), by Lemma 2, this is equivalent to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ having no zeros on the closed disk (a condition which automatically rules out singular inner factors). So a more special hypothesis on the function $`f`$ helps us relax considerably the hypotheses on $`g`$.

It should be noted that consideration of the function $`g_r(z):=g(rz)`$, for $`r<1`$, which is analytic in a neighborhood of the closed disk, does not help in this instance, because the convergence of $`g_r`$ to $`g`$ is not enough to ensure the corresponding “convergence” of the closed algebras they generate.

For instance, consider the following example:

$$B(z)=z^2,g(z)=z(1z^2)\chi (z^2),$$

where $`\chi `$ stands for the same singular inner function as in the examples of the introduction. Then $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)(z)=(1z^2)\chi (z^2)`$, so it has a singular inner factor and $`\overline{[B,g]}`$ is of infinite codimension. On the other hand, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g_r)(z)=r(1r^2z^2)\chi (r^2z^2)`$ has no zeros on the closed disk for any $`r<1`$, so then $`\overline{[B,g_r]}=A(\overline{𝔻})`$.

In , more general algebras $`𝒜`$ are considered. If $`𝒜`$ separates points of the closed disk, contains a dense subalgebra of functions which are $`𝒞^1`$ up to the boundary, and for any $`z\overline{𝔻}`$ there is $`f_z𝒜`$ such that $`f_z^{}(z)0`$, then $`𝒜`$ is dense in $`A(\overline{𝔻})`$. Actually, this immediate consequence of Blumenthal’s work is quoted thus in , a paper which summarizes and slightly generalizes an unpublished dissertation . As far as we know, those were the first works to point out the role as obstructions to density of singular inner factors of functions analogous to our $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$.

For algebras of the special form $`\overline{[B,g]}`$, Blumenthal’s result extends Wermer’s theorem to the case where $`g𝒞^1(\overline{𝔻})`$. In this case, our methods can cover further examples of functions $`g`$ which yield a dense subalgebra of $`A(\overline{𝔻})`$. For instance, consider

$$B(z)=z^2,g(z)=(1z)\chi (z)A(\overline{𝔻})𝒞^1(\overline{𝔻}).$$

Then

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)(z)=\frac{1}{2z}\left((1z)\chi (z)(1+z)\chi (z)\right).$$

One checks easily that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)(0)0`$.

In fact, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ never vanishes. For $`z0`$, setting $`\sigma :=(1+z)/(1z)`$, we see that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)(z)=0`$ if and only if

$$\mathrm{exp}(\frac{1}{\sigma }\sigma )=\sigma ,$$

and since Re$`(\frac{1}{\sigma }\sigma )>0`$ if and only if $`|\sigma |<1`$, any solutions would have to be of the form $`\sigma =e^{i\theta }`$, which leads to $`e^{2i\mathrm{sin}\theta }=e^{i\theta }`$, an equation whose only solution in the relevant interval $`(\frac{\pi }{2},\frac{\pi }{2})`$ is $`\theta =0`$, which corresponds to $`z=0`$, excluded.

Furthermore, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ is analytic in a neighborhood of $`\overline{𝔻}\{+1,1\}`$, so any singular inner factor would have its singular mass carried by $`\{+1,1\}`$. However, one verifies immediately that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ has nonzero limits at each of those points, so that it cannot admit any singular factor. Therefore, by Corollary 15(i), $`\overline{[B,g]}=A(\overline{𝔻})`$.

The papers of Wermer and Blumenthal cited above also include results of the same type as Theorem 14, whose conclusion is that the closure of a given algebra contains a certain ideal of finite codimension.

Theorem 1.2 in  states that, under the same regularity hypotheses on $`f,g`$, if $`[f,g]`$ separates points on $`𝔻`$, then $`\overline{[f,g]}`$ contains a subspace of the form $`PA(\overline{𝔻})`$, where $`P`$ is a polynomial. It should be noted that the hypothesis about point-separation is easily weakened here to the hypothesis that the set of points which are not separated be discrete; then a small change in the radius of the boundary circle (legitimate since our functions are analytic in a neighborhood of the closed disk) will produce a situation where the points of the circle are separated.

In the case of $`[B,g]`$, if $`g`$ is analytic in a neighborhood of the closed disk, then so is $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$, so it can’t have singular inner factors, nor an infinite number of zeros on the closed disk unless it is identically zero. That last occurrence rules out any non-trivial closed ideal being contained in $`[B,g]`$, by the proof of Corollary 12.

Blumenthal’s Theorem 1 in  extends Wermer’s theorem to cases where $`g𝒞^1(\overline{𝔻})`$ only; in view of Theorem 14 this assumption is not needed when considering $`[B,g]`$. (Furthermore, Blumenthal’s theorem includes a hypothesis of point-separation which is stronger than expected for the conclusion obtained).

An outstanding problem is the determination of $`\overline{[f,g]}`$ when $`f`$ and $`gA(\overline{𝔻})`$, even if $`f`$ is assumed to be analytic in a neighborhood of $`\overline{𝔻}`$ (but no extra hypotheses are imposed on $`g`$).

## 8. Proof of the Main Theorem

###### Proof of Theorem 6.

Suppose $`fH^p`$, let $`f_r(z)=f(rz)`$ for $`r<1`$. If a sequence $`f_\nu `$ can be found in $`𝒜`$ which approximates $`f_r`$ pointwise boundedly, then $`f_r`$ belongs to the weak closure of $`𝒜`$ in $`H^p`$. Since the weak closure of $`𝒜`$ coincides with the strong closure, $`f_r`$ is in the $`H^p`$-closure of $`𝒜`$. The proof of Theorem 6 therefore reduces to the following Proposition. ∎

###### Proposition 16.

For any $`h\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)H^{\mathrm{}}`$, there is a sequence $`\{h_\nu \}𝒜`$ converging to $`h`$ pointwise boundedly.

###### Proof.

First we need to introduce notations for two kinds of singularities (in a certain sense) that we will encounter. Recall from (5) that $`𝒮_0`$ is the (finite) set of $`z`$ such that $`\{\phi _j(z),0jn1\}`$ is made up of fewer than $`n`$ points.

Larger still is the set $`𝒮_1`$ of $`z`$ such that $`\{g(\phi _j(z)),0jn1\}`$ is made up of fewer than $`n`$ points. The previous considerations show that $`𝒮_1𝒮_0`$ is contained in the zero set of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$, so that if it is not discrete, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)0`$, and our theorem is vacuously true.

Let $`h`$ be any holomorphic function in the disc (later we will choose $`h=f\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$).

Restrict attention for a moment to points $`z𝔻𝒮_1`$. Then there is a unique polynomial $``$ of degree not exceeding $`n1`$ such that

$$(g\phi _j(z))=h(\phi _j(z)),0jn1.$$

The polynomial $``$ can be written $`(X)=_{k=0}^{n1}\alpha _j(B(z))X^k`$, since its coefficients depend only on the set $`B^1(B(z))`$, and, being symmetric in the elements of that set and given by fractions (Lagrange’s interpolation formula), are holomorphic in $`𝔻𝒮_1`$. So we have, at any such point $`z`$,

$$h(z)=\underset{j=0}{\overset{n1}{}}\alpha _j(B(z))g(z)^j.$$

Now it suffices to show that when $`h=f\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$, the $`\alpha _j`$ turn out to be bounded analytic functions in the unit disk. We write $`=_z`$ to emphasize the dependency on $`z`$.

In a punctured neighborhood of any point of $`𝒮_1`$, $``$ is given by the Lagrange formula,

(6)
$$_z(X)=\underset{j=0}{\overset{n1}{}}f(\phi _j(z))\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)(\phi _j(z))\underset{l:lj}{}\frac{Xg(\phi _l(z))}{g(\phi _j(z))g(\phi _l(z))}.$$

On the other hand,

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)(\phi _j(z))=\underset{i=1}{\overset{n1}{}}\frac{g(\phi _j(z))g(\phi _i\phi _j(z))}{\phi _j(z)\phi _i\phi _j(z)}.$$

When $`i`$ goes through the set $`\{1,\mathrm{},n1\}`$, $`\phi _i\phi _j(z)`$ goes through the set $`\{\phi _l(z),lj\}`$, so the above numerators cancel out with the denominators (6). So finally

(7)
$$_z(X)=\underset{j=0}{\overset{n1}{}}f(\phi _j(z))\underset{l:lj}{}\frac{Xg(\phi _l(z))}{\phi _j(z)\phi _l(z)}.$$

This formula makes sense whenever $`z𝒮_0`$, and shows that the coefficients of $``$ are holomorphically extendable to $`𝔻𝒮_0`$.

Consider now a neighborhood $`V`$ of the unit circle chosen so that its closure is disjoint from $`𝒮_0`$. For $`zV`$, $`|\phi _j(z)\phi _k(z)|`$ is bounded below. So to prove that the $`\alpha _j`$ are bounded analytic functions, it will be enough to prove that the singularities for $`z𝒮_0`$ are removable.

This will be done by considering several cases in turn for the possible singularity $`z_0𝒮_0`$. First, we consider a type of function $`g`$ which allows us to describe explicitly what the interpolating polynomial $`_z`$ turns out to be when $`z`$ is a critical point of $`B`$.

Case 1. $`g^{}(z)0`$ for any $`zB^1(B(z_0))`$, and $`g`$ is one-to-one on the set $`B^1(B(z_0))`$.

Note that this hypothesis is equivalent to the fact that $`g`$ is one-to-one in some neighborhood $`U`$ of $`B^1(B(z_0))`$.

Then $`g^1`$ is holomorphic on the open set $`g(U)`$, and $``$ is exactly the interpolation polynomial of degree less or equal than $`n1`$ assuming the same values as $`hg^1`$ at the points of $`gB^1(B(z))`$, for $`zU𝒮_0`$. Choose a smaller neighborhood $`U_0`$ of $`B^1(B(z_0))`$, $`U_0`$ relatively compact in $`U`$, such that the boundary of $`g(U_0)`$ is a finite disjoint union of circles. For $`z`$ belonging to a small enough neighborhood of $`z_0`$ such that $`B^1(B(z))U_0`$, and for $`xB(U_0)`$,

$$_z(x)=\frac{1}{2\pi i}_{U_0}\frac{hg^1(\zeta )}{\omega _z(\zeta )}\frac{\omega _z(\zeta )\omega _z(x)}{\zeta x}𝑑\zeta ,$$

where $`\omega _z(X):=_{0ln1}\left(Xg\phi _l(z)\right)`$ \[7, Vol. II, Section 11, p. 67 ff.\]. This formula depends continuously on $`z`$ in the whole neighborhood $`U_0`$, and converges, when $`z`$ converges to $`z_0`$, to the solution of an Hermite interpolation problem given by

$$^{(j)}(g\phi _i(z))=h^{(j)}(\phi _i(z)),\mathrm{for}iA_q,0j\mathrm{\#}A_q1,1qp,$$

where $`A_1,\mathrm{},A_p`$ form a partition of $`\{0,\mathrm{},n1\}`$ such that $`\phi _j(z)=\phi _j^{}(z)`$ if and only if $`j`$ and $`j^{}`$ belong to the same set $`A_q`$.

Case 2. For any point $`z_0`$ such that there exists a $`j`$ with $`B^{}(\phi _j(z_0))=0`$, we have $`B^{\prime \prime }(\phi _j(z_0))0`$ for any such $`j`$.

This hypothesis says that the equation $`B(z)=B(z_0)`$ has solutions of multiplicity never exceeding $`2`$. It does not depend on $`g`$. Notice that this case is generic: Blaschke products of degree greater than one always admit critical points inside the disk, and those for which multiplicities of the above solutions can be $`3`$ or more form a small set, in a sense that will be made precise at the beginning of Case 3.

Then the various terms in the sum which represents $`_z(X)`$ either converge to a finite limit (when $`j`$ is such that $`B^{}(\phi _j(z_0))0`$) or can be regrouped in pairs $`(j,k)`$ where $`jk`$, $`\phi _j(z_0)=\phi _k(z_0)\phi _l(z_0)`$ for $`l\{j,k\}`$. To simplify notations, let us assume that $`j=0`$, $`k=1`$. For $`z`$ in a small enough neighborhood of $`z_0`$, the sum of the two terms can be written

$`f(z){\displaystyle \frac{Xg\phi _1(z)}{z\phi _1(z)}}{\displaystyle \underset{2ln1}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{Xg\phi _l(z)}{z\phi _l(z)}}`$
$`+f\phi _1(z){\displaystyle \frac{Xg(z)}{\phi _1(z)z}}{\displaystyle \underset{2ln1}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{Xg\phi _l(z)}{\phi _1(z)\phi _l(z)}}`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{_{2ln1}(Xg\phi _l(z))}{z\phi _1(z)}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{f(z)(Xg\phi _1(z))}{_{2ln1}(z\phi _l(z))}}{\displaystyle \frac{f\phi _1(z)(Xg(z))}{_{2ln1}(\phi _1(z)\phi _l(z))}}\right).`$
Define a meromorphic function whose coefficients depend on $`z`$ by

$$R(Y):=\frac{f(Y)}{_{2ln1}(Y\phi _l(z))}.$$

The poles of $`R`$ depend on the parameter $`z`$ and stay away from $`z_0`$ for $`z`$ in a neighborhood of $`z_0`$, and we have

$$R(Y_1)R(Y_2):=(Y_1Y_2)R_1(Y_1,Y_2),$$

where $`R_1`$ is another meromorphic function (of two variables) with its pole set (which is a hypersurface of $`^2`$) avoiding a neighborhood of $`(z_0,z_0)`$. The expression from (8) is then equal to

$`{\displaystyle \frac{_{2ln1}(Xg\phi _l(z))}{z\phi _1(z)}}\left[R(z)(Xg\phi _1(z))R(\phi _1(z))(Xg(z))\right]`$
$`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \underset{2ln1}{}}(Xg\phi _l(z))\right)\left(R_1(z,\phi _1(z))(Xg\phi _1(z))+{\displaystyle \frac{g(z)g\phi _1(z)}{z\phi _1(z)}}R(\phi _1(z))\right).`$
Letting $`z`$ tend to $`z_0`$, $`\phi _1(z)`$ tends to $`z_0`$ as well, and $`\frac{g(z)g\phi _1(z)}{z\phi _1(z)}`$ tends to $`g^{}(z_0)`$, so the coefficients of $`_z`$ admit finite limits, and the possible singularity of its coefficients at $`z_0`$ is actually removable.

Case 3. General case.

The Blaschke products of degree $`n`$ which do not satisfy the hypotheses of Case 2 form an algebraic subset, therefore of empty interior, since their derivative, which is a rational fraction of fixed degree, must admit at least one multiple root.

Given one such exceptional Blaschke product $`B`$, let $`B^\nu `$ be a sequence of Blaschke products satisfying the hypotheses of Case 2 and converging to $`B`$ uniformly in a neighborhood the closed unit disk. By continuous dependency of the roots of a polynomial equation upon the coefficients (Hurwitz Theorem), we see that the corresponding functions $`\phi _j^\nu `$ converge to $`\phi _j`$ uniformly in a some neighborhood of the unit circle (where they are all well-defined), and that any symmetric polynomial in the $`\phi _j^\nu `$’s converges uniformly in the closed disk to the same polynomial in the $`\phi _j`$’s. In particular, if we set $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^\nu (g)=\mathrm{\Gamma }_{B^\nu }(g)`$, then $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^\nu (g)`$ converges to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ pointwise boundedly on the disk.

Given a function $`fH^{\mathrm{}}(𝔻)`$, write

$$_z^\nu (X)=\underset{j=0}{\overset{n1}{}}f(\phi _j^\nu (z))\mathrm{\Gamma }^\nu (g)(\phi _j^\nu (z))\underset{l:lj}{}\frac{Xg(\phi _l^\nu (z))}{g(\phi _j^\nu (z))g(\phi _l^\nu (z))}=:\underset{k=0}{\overset{n1}{}}A_k^\nu (z)X^k$$

From (7) and the proof in Case 2, we see that the $`A_k^\nu `$ are bounded holomorphic functions and $`A_k^\nu (z)=\alpha _k^\nu (B^\nu (z))`$.

Fix some degree $`k`$ between $`0`$ and $`n1`$. On any circle centered at the origin of radius $`r`$ close enough to $`1`$, $`A_k^\nu `$ converges uniformly, because $`f`$ is bounded on the circle, all the $`\phi _j^\nu `$ are well defined and converge uniformly, and all the denominators in the expression are bounded away from $`0`$. If $`f`$ is furthermore bounded, the limit is a bounded holomorphic function which we denote by $`A_k`$.

We need to see that for any $`z_1`$, $`z_2`$ such that $`B(z_1)=B(z_2)`$, then $`A_k(z_1)=A_k(z_2)`$. In that case, there is a $`j`$ such that $`\phi _j(z_1)=z_2`$, and by the convergence of the $`\phi _j^\nu `$, we can select a subsequence (which we will denote the same way as the original sequence) and an index $`j_0`$ such that $`z_2\phi _{j_0}^\nu (z_1)0`$ as $`\nu \mathrm{}`$. Then

$$A_k(z_1)A_k(z_2)=\underset{\nu \mathrm{}}{lim}(A_k^\nu (z_1)A_k^\nu (z_2))=\underset{\nu \mathrm{}}{lim}(A_k^\nu (\phi _{j_0}^\nu (z_1))A_k^\nu (z_2))=0,$$

where the next to last equality is by the symmetry of the $`A_k^\nu `$, and the last by uniform convergence on compacta. So we can write $`A_k(z)=\alpha _k(B(z))`$, where $`\alpha _kH^{\mathrm{}}(𝔻)`$. Now

$$f(z)\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)(z)=\underset{\nu \mathrm{}}{lim}f(z)\mathrm{\Gamma }^\nu (g)(z)=\underset{\nu \mathrm{}}{lim}\underset{k=0}{\overset{n1}{}}A_k^\nu (z)g(z)^k=\underset{k=0}{\overset{n1}{}}\alpha _k(B(z))g(z)^k.$$

We now are able to give the proofs of the corresponding results for the disk algebra case.

###### Proof of Theorem 14.

The proof proceeds exactly as the proof of Proposition 16, except that now we will need to assume $`h=f\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$, with $`fA(\overline{𝔻})`$. This time we need to prove that the functions $`\alpha _j`$ are continuous up to the boundary (in addition to being holomorphic). For this it will be enough to show that the coeffients of $`_z`$ are themselves continuous up to the boundary. This follows from the formula (7), since $`f`$ and $`g`$ are continuous, and the $`\phi _j`$ are all distinct near the unit circle.

Furthermore, the arguments of Case 3 now show that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^\nu (g)`$ converges to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ uniformly on the closed disk (using the uniform continuity of $`g`$ on the closed disk). So the coefficients $`A_k^\nu `$ converge uniformly to functions in the disc algebra, and one proves in the usual way that the limits are functions of $`B`$ alone. ∎

###### Proof of Corollary 15.

(i) Any zero of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ in the open disk provides a continuous, non-trivial linear form which vanishes on $`𝒜`$, by the proof of Corollary 5. If $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ has a zero $`\zeta `$ on the boundary, then since $`B^{}`$ never vanishes on the unit circle, there must exist $`\zeta ^{}𝔻`$, $`\zeta ^{}\zeta `$, such that $`B(\zeta )=B(\zeta ^{})`$, $`g(\zeta )=g(\zeta ^{})`$. Then $`ff(\zeta )f(\zeta ^{})`$ provides a non-trivial linear form, continuous on $`A(\overline{𝔻})`$, which vanishes on $`𝒜`$.

The converse is immediate by the remark made before the statement of Theorem 14.

(ii) As above, an infinite number of zeros of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ would provide arbitrarily large (finite) sets of linearly independent continuous linear forms vanishing on $`𝒜`$, so the codimension could not be finite.

Suppose on the other hand that the factorization of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ admit a singular inner factor $`S`$. It is easy to see that the map $`f\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)`$ is continuous on $`A(\overline{𝔻})`$, so that whenever $`f\overline{𝒜}`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)`$ is divisible by $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$, therefore by $`S`$. Arguing as in the proof of Corollary 5 again, if $`\overline{𝒜}`$ was of finite codimension, it would contain a polynomial, which would lead to a contradiction.

Conversely, if $`\mathrm{\#}\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)^1\{0\}`$ is finite, it will be enough to show that the codimension of the closure of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)A(\overline{𝔻})`$ is finite. Let $`:=\overline{\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)A(\overline{𝔻})}`$. Then $``$ is a closed ideal of $`A(\overline{𝔻})`$, and the main result of  shows that $`=I(E,M)`$, the set of all functions in $`A(\overline{𝔻})`$ which vanish on the closed set $`E𝔻`$ and which are divisible by the inner function $`M`$. The hypothesis on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ imply that $`M`$ is a finite Blaschke product (because singular inner factors are excluded), and that $`E=\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)^1\{0\}𝔻`$ is a finite subset of the circle. Therefore $``$ reduces to those functions in $`A(\overline{𝔻})`$ which vanish on $`E^{}:=\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)^1\{0\}𝔻`$ to an order greater or equal than the order of vanishing of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(g)`$ at those points, and which vanish on $`E`$ (where the notion of “order of vanishing” makes no sense).

Notice that this allows us to compute precisely the codimension of $``$, as the sum of the number of points in $`E`$, counted in the usual way, and the number of points in $`E^{}`$, counted with multiplicities. ∎

$$\begin{array}{cc}\text{Michael I. Stessin}\hfill & \text{ Pascal J. Thomas}\hfill \\ \text{Department of Mathematics and Statistics}\hfill & \text{ Laboratoire Emile Picard, UMR CNRS 5580}\hfill \\ \text{University at Albany}\hfill & \text{ 118 route de Narbonne}\hfill \\ \text{Albany, NY 12222}\hfill & \text{ 31062 TOULOUSE CEDEX}\hfill \\ \text{USA}\hfill & \text{ France}\hfill \\ \text{stessin@math.albany.edu}\hfill & \text{ pthomas@cict.fr}\hfill \end{array}$$


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# T Dwarf Discoveries by 2MASS

## 1. Introduction

T dwarfs are brown dwarfs that exhibit CH4 absorption features at K-band (Kirkpatrick et al. 1999). These objects have effective temperatures Teff $`<`$ 1300 - 1500 K (Fegley & Lodders 1996), and are thus the coolest brown dwarfs so far detected. Until recently, only one object of this type was known, Gl 229B (Nakajima et al. 1995), a low-luminosity companion with Teff $``$ 1000 K and substellar mass M $``$ 40 MJup111MJup $``$ 1 Jupiter mass = 1.9 $`\times `$ 1030 g $``$ 0.1 M$`_{}`$. (Allard et al. 1996; Marley et al. 1996). The first field T dwarf, SDSS 1624+00, was identified by Strauss et al. (1999) in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS; York et al. 2000); additional discoveries were soon made using the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS; Burgasser et al. 1999, 2000a, 2000c, 2001b), SDSS (Tsvetanov et al. 2000; Leggett et al. 2000), and the New Technology Telescope Deep Field (Cuby et al. 1999). The detection of so many cool brown dwarfs (23 at the time of this writing) emphasizes how ubiquitous these objects are likely to be, despite their only recent identification; Reid et al. (1999) estimate that there may be up to twice as many brown dwarfs in the Galaxy as stars.

In this article, we focus on 2MASS T dwarf discoveries, of which 16 have so far been made. In $`\mathrm{\S }`$2 we discuss the search process used to identify T dwarfs in 2MASS near-infrared (NIR) data, and some of the limitations encountered in identifying warm T dwarfs (i.e., L/T “transition objects”). In $`\mathrm{\S }`$$`\mathrm{\S }`$3-5 we summarize three discoveries: the coolest known brown dwarf Gl 570D, the H$`\alpha `$ emitter 2MASS 1237+65, and the brightest T dwarf so far identified, 2MASS 0559-14. We summarize future progress in $`\mathrm{\S }`$6.

## 2. The 2MASS T Dwarf Search

CH4, H2O and H2 collision-induced (CIA) absorption force the spectral energy distributions of T dwarfs to peak in the NIR at J-band (1.25 $`\mu `$m). As a case in point, Gl 229B has an absolute J-band magnitude MJ = 15.4 (1.1 mJy at 1.25 $`\mu `$m), while Mr $`>`$ 23.3 ($`<`$ 0.0014 mJy at 0.7 $`\mu `$m), Mi = 21.2 (0.0084 mJy at 0.85 $`\mu `$m), MK = 15.6 (0.38 mJy at 2.2 $`\mu `$m) and M$`_L^{}`$ = 13.4 (0.13 mJy at 3.7 $`\mu `$m; Matthews et al. 1996; Leggett et al. 1999). This is in contrast to the Fν peak wavelength of 5 $`\mu `$m for a 1000 K blackbody. NIR surveys, such as 2MASS (Skrutskie et al. 1997), are thus especially tuned to detect the maximum flux from these otherwise dim objects. 2MASS is currently completing a whole-sky survey to SNR = 10 limits of J = 15.8, H = 15.1, and Ks = 14.3; at these magnitudes, it is capable of detecting objects like Gl 229B out to distances of 12, 8.3, and 5.8 pc, respectively, although fainter sources are certainly attainable.

Figure 1 shows a NIR color-color plot of a sample of point sources obtained from the 2MASS Second Incremental Data Release222http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/2mass/releases/second/index.html. The positions of currently known T dwarfs are indicated, along with the Bessell & Brett (1988) dwarf and giant tracks. Note that 2MASS T dwarf discoveries (filled circles) begin at the blue end of the dwarf track, while warm T dwarfs identified by SDSS (open circles at upper right) lie along an extension of the giant track redward of J-H $`>`$ 0.8. Between these lies the NIR main sequence, and the majority of point sources detected by 2MASS. The contamination of these background sources forces us to constrain our search to J-H and H-Ks $``$ 0.3 (dashed lines). Based on 2MASS completeness limits, we set a J-band magnitude limit of 16 and require J- and H-band detections, although no constraint is made at Ks-band. The faintness of Gl 229B in the optical (R - J $``$ 9; Golimowski et al. 1998) allows us to rule out objects with associated optical counterparts (USNO-A2.0 catalog; Monet et al. 1998); we also eliminate catalogued minor planets. Finally, candidates are constrained to Galactic latitudes $`b^{II}`$ $``$ 15 in order to avoid source confusion.

In June 1999, we extracted 48,339 candidates from 18,360 sq. deg. (44.5% of the sky) of 2MASS point source data. Optical images of each candidate field, obtained from the CADC DSS server333http://cadcwww.dao.nrc.ca/cadcbin/getdss, were examined to rule out faint counterparts or close doubles. Second-epoch NIR imaging of remaining candidates was then done to eliminate uncatalogued minor planets, which have similar colors as T dwarfs. Finally, NIR spectroscopy confirmed T dwarf status via identification of the 1.6 and 2.2 $`\mu `$m CH4 bands.

Figure 2 shows NIR spectral data for a sample of 2MASS T dwarfs, obtained at the Keck 10m using the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRC; Matthews & Soifer 1994), along with data for Gl 229B (Oppenheimer et al. 1998). Molecular absorption bands of CH4 and H2O are clearly evident, while suppression of flux at K-band is also due to H2 CIA. The slight bend in the J-band peak at 1.25 $`\mu `$m is due to an unresolved K I doublet, which is clearly evident in higher resolution data (Strauss et al. 1999). One striking feature of these spectra is that they are not identical. The prominent 1.6 $`\mu `$m CH4 band shows a gradual deepening from 2MASS 0559-14 to Gl 570D, as do combined CH4 and H2O absorption bands at 1.15 and 1.4 $`\mu `$m. At the same time, the 1.25 $`\mu `$m K I feature disappears, while the K-band peak changes from a sharp bandhead at 2.2 $`\mu `$m to a more gradual drop-off longward of 2.1 $`\mu `$m. We believe these spectral morphology changes are primarily due to temperature differences between the objects. Deeper molecular bands initially result from increasing CH4 and H2O number densities in the photosphere via the reaction CO + 3H2 $``$ CH4 \+ H2O. At lower temperatures, the reduction of higher energy “wing” transitions increases the contrast between the band cores and adjacent continuum. K I doublet lines at 1.2432 and 1.2522 $`\mu `$m, caused by the higher order 4p 2P0 \- 5s 2S transition, weaken with decreasing temperatures, and perhaps additionally through conversion of atomic potassium into KCl (Lodders 1999). Increased H2 opacity toward lower temperatures (Lenzuni, Chernoff, & Salpeter 1991) results in increased absorption beyond 2.1 $`\mu `$m.

In all, 13 T dwarfs have now been identified in the June 1999 sample, which has been nearly completely followed up (Burgasser et al. 2001b). Table 1 shows the number of detections, area surveyed, and estimated space densities of this sample and those of Burgasser et al. (1999), Strauss et al. (1999) and Tsvetanov et al. (2000), and Leggett et al. (2000). Note that the SDSS space densities are generally higher than those from 2MASS searches. While this discrepancy may be due to small number statistics in the SDSS results, the color constraints imposed by background sources in 2MASS data certainly eliminates some T dwarfs. SDSS i\*-z\* colors delineate cool brown dwarfs due to their extreme redness from 0.8–1 $`\mu `$m (Fan et al. 2000; Figure 3 below), quite unlike main sequence stars. As such, SDSS should be able to produce a more complete sample of T dwarfs by including the warm L/T “transition” objects, while 2MASS likely samples a larger volume due to greater detectability at J-band.

## 3. Gliese 570D

Gl 570D (Burgasser et al. 2000a) was identified in the June 1999 sample as a field T dwarf candidate, but is located only 258$`.^{\prime \prime }`$3 $`\pm `$ 0$`.^{\prime \prime }`$4 from Gl 570ABC. This triple system consists of a K4V primary separated by $``$ 25′′ from a close M1.5V-M3V binary. NIR spectral data for Gl 570D are shown in Figure 2. Deep CH4 and H2O absorption bands, as well as the absence of the 1.25 $`\mu `$m K I feature, indicate that it is very cool object.

Companionship was verified via common proper motion by a second 2MASS observation of the field 14 months after the initial catalog imaging. The proper motion of the system (2$`.^{\prime \prime }`$012 $`\pm `$ 0$`.^{\prime \prime }`$002 yr-1; Perryman et al. 1997) was clearly resolved, given the 0$`.^{\prime \prime }`$3 astrometric accuracy of 2MASS point source data444R. M. Cutri et al. 1999, Explanatory Supplement of the 2MASS Incremental Data Release (http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/2mass/releases/second/doc/explsup.html).. Based on the distance to Gl 570A (5.91 $`\pm `$ 0.06 pc; Perryman et al. 1997), Gl 570D has MJ = 16.47 $`\pm `$ 0.07, nearly a full magnitude dimmer than Gl 229B (MJ = 15.51 $`\pm `$ 0.09; Leggett et al. 1999). Estimates based on empirical bolometric corrections, as well results from evolutionary models (Burrows et al. 1997) yield Teff = 750 $`\pm `$ 50 K, ($``$ 200 K cooler than Gl 229B) and M = 50 $`\pm `$ 20 MJup. Gl 570D is the coolest brown dwarf so far detected; but, because the Gl 570 system is rather old ($`\tau `$ $``$ 2-10 Gyr), it may actually be more massive than Gl 229B. Companion brown dwarfs such as these, including recent L dwarf companion discoveries (Kirkpatrick et al. 2000b; Wilson et al. 2000), will help tie spectral types to absolute magnitudes, as well as provide age information – valuable empirical constraints for evolutionary models.

## 4. 2MASS 1237+65

2MASS 1237+65 (Burgasser et al. 1999) is a faint (J = 16.03 $`\pm `$ 0.09) T dwarf undetected at Ks-band by 2MASS. Optical spectra of this and two other T dwarfs (SDSS 1624+00 and SDSS 1346-00; Strauss et al. 1999; Tsvetanov et al. 2000) were obtained using the Keck 10m Low Resolution Imaging Spectrograph (LRIS; Oke et al. 1995), in the wavelength range 6300 to 10100 Å at 9 Å resolution. Figure 3 shows the reduced spectra, with prominent features of Cs I, FeH, CH4, and H2O indicated. The broad absorption responsible for the rapid ramp-up from 8000 to 10000 Å is likely due to the pressure-broadened K I doublet at 7665 and 7699 Å (Burrows et al. 2000; Liebert et al. 2000).

Also indicated in Figure 3 is H$`\alpha `$ emission at 6563 Å, clearly seen in 2MASS 1237+65. This emission line was observed to persist over three days, and subsequent observations have confirmed its presence over timescales exceeding 6 months. While H$`\alpha `$ emission is prevalent in late M dwarfs and early L dwarfs, Kirkpatrick et al. (2000a) and Gizis et al. (2000) have shown that the incidence and strength of emission drops off precipitously beyond spectral type M7V, with no objects later then L5V showing H$`\alpha `$ in emission. Observations of other T dwarfs (Burgasser 2001a) show a similar lack of activity as measured by the H$`\alpha `$ line. By estimating the bolometric flux of 2MASS 1237+65, we measure log($`f_{H\alpha }/f_{bol}`$) = log($`L_{H\alpha }/L_{bol}`$) = $``$4.2, consistent with the activity level of late dMe field stars (Hawley et al. 1996). Given these clues, 2MASS 1237+65 must have a unique activity mechanism in order to sustain its relatively high level of emission. We have proposed that 2MASS 1237+65 may be a close, interacting binary, in which a lower mass secondary (and thereby larger brown dwarf, as $`dlnR/dlnM`$ = -1/3 for degenerate dwarfs) is losing mass to the primary via Roche lobe overflow, causing shock heating in the latter’s atmosphere. In order to sustain mass-loss, the physical separation of the primary and secondary must be on the order of 10 Jupiter radii; thus, photometric monitoring will likely provide the best test for this scenario. Regardless, the activity in 2MASS 1237+65 remains an intriguing puzzle.

## 5. 2MASS 0559-14

The majority of T dwarfs identified by 2MASS and SDSS have J-band magnitudes between 15 and 16, placing them between 6 pc (for the coolest objects such as Gl 570D) and $``$ 15 pc, depending on temperature and duplicity. Nevertheless, we have identified one object, 2MASS 0559-14 (Burgasser et al. 2000c), which is significantly brighter, with J = 13.83 $`\pm `$ 0.03. This is over one magnitude brighter than any other 2MASS T dwarf so far discovered, and nearly 0.4 mag brighter than Gl 229B at J-band. In addition, 2MASS 0559-14 is the reddest T dwarf identified in the June 1999 sample, with J-Ks = 0.22 $`\pm `$ 0.06. A rough estimate based on the absolute J-band magnitudes of the L8V Gl 584C (15.0; Kirkpatrick et al. 2000a) and Gl 229B (15.5; Leggett et al. 1999), places 2MASS 0559-14 at about 5 pc (if it is single)555This argument assumes that MJ monotonically decreases from L8V through type T. This relation may not hold if CH4 and H2O bands strengthen significantly over a small Teff range, possibly redistributing flux into the J-band window..

NIR spectral data for 2MASS 0559-14 is shown in Figure 2. The most striking feature about this object is its significant deviation in spectral morphology from the other T dwarfs shown. While cool brown dwarfs such as Gl 229B and Gl 570D show deep H2O and CH4 absorption bands at 1.15, 1.4, 1.6–2.0, and 2.2 $`\mu `$m, 2MASS 0559-14 has significantly shallower absorption troughs, most notably at the 1.6 $`\mu `$m CH4 band. We argue that these features, along with detectable 0.9896 $`\mu `$m FeH (which weakens toward the late L dwarfs) and strong 1.2 $`\mu `$m K I, suggest that 2MASS 0559-14 is significantly warmer than other 2MASS discoveries. Leggett et al. (2000) have recently identified three SDSS T dwarfs which have even shallower CH4 absorption at H- and K-bands, as well as a residual CO bandhead at 2.3 $`\mu `$m. These objects are probably warmer still, right at the transition between the latest L dwarfs and the onset of CH4 absorption in the NIR666Noll et al. (2000) have recently detected the 3.3 $`\mu `$m fundamental band of CH4 in objects as early as L5V, indicating that some conversion of CO to CH4 may occur prior to the formation of the 1.6 and 2.2 $`\mu `$m overtone bands..

## 6. Future Progress

In just over one year, an entire population of cool T dwarfs has been discovered. A great deal remains to be learned about these objects, including absolute magnitudes, space motion, duplicity, variability, activity, space density, and ultimately their contribution to the stellar/substellar mass function and the mass budget of the Galaxy. While over a dozen T dwarfs have been identified in 2MASS data, more than one-half of the sky and a great deal of color space remains to be investigated. In addition, as SDSS begins routine survey operations, the opportunity to cross-correlate 2MASS and SDSS data will allow more sophisticated and hence more complete searches for brown dwarfs in the field. Given the estimates shown in Table 1, it is likely that we will find anywhere from 2 to 20 T dwarfs within 5 pc of the Sun, significantly influencing the nearby star sample. Finally, it is now possible to develop a new classification for T dwarfs, in analogy to the L dwarf spectral class derived by Kirkpatrick et al. (1999). Ironically, the future looks quite bright for brown dwarf research.

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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

In classical gauge theory, the basic variables like connections and gauge fields are usually defined locally in space. There is however a way to descrive gauge theory by globally defined fields, using the fiber bundle formulation. These globally defined fields are called projectors and serve to give an alternative description to the connections which is suitable for generalizations like non-commutative geometry -. The theorem of Narasimham and Ramanan shows that all fiber bundles with a given set of characteristic classes are viewable as particular projections of a more general bundle called a universal space bundle. Consider a fiber bundle determined by the unitary groups $`U(p)`$ as gauge groups and by basic space a (compcat ) manifold denoted by $`M`$. A principal $`U(p)`$ bundle $`E`$ over $`M`$ with a connection form $`\omega `$ can be associated to a projector valued field $`P(x)(xM)`$. In more general terms, the space $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(M,E)`$ of smooth sections of the vector bundle $`EM`$ over a compact manifold M is a finite projective module over the commutative algebra $`C(M)`$ and every finite projective $`C(M)`$-module can be realized as the module of sections of some vector bundle over $`M`$. The correspondence is quite general and well known in the mathematical literature, less known between the physicist community.

This equivalence has received particular attention in generalizing the classical geometry to non commutative geometry, and is the nowadays basis to generalize the concept of vector bundles to the noncommutative case -. In ref.  a finite-projective-module description of all monopoles configurations on the 2-dimensional sphere $`S^2`$ has been presented. In this paper we outline its generalization to one of the simplest example of non-commutative manifolds, the fuzzy sphere -. We find that it is simple to give the description of the non commutative n-monopoles over the fuzzy sphere in terms of $`(|n|+1)\mathrm{x}(|n|+1)`$ matrices, having as entries the elements of the basic non commutative coordinate algebra of the fuzzy sphere.

An alternative, quite involved, formulation of the projectors has been given in reference , and resembles the classical description of the projectors over $`S^2`$ of ref. . Our formulation is surely original, more easy to deal with and should have all the good properties of the analogous one over $`S^2`$ , proposed by Landi.

As an application of our $`nmonopoles`$ projectors, we show how to compute their topological charge ( the Chern class ) in the classical limit, using the machinery of non commutative geometry, i.e. the classical Dirac operator introduced in .

## 2 Fuzzy sphere

The fuzzy sphere is defined through an algebra $`M_n`$ of $`n\mathrm{x}n`$ complex matrices. When $`n\mathrm{}`$ the corresponding matrix geometry tends to the geometry of the 2-dimesional sphere. In order to realize such an idea, one views the ordinary geometry of the sphere as a commutative algebra. A process of truncations of it produces the matrix algebras, non-commutative algebras which approximate the commutative algebra in the large $`n`$ limit.

The $`S^2`$ sphere can be defined as the constraint between the coordinates:

$$g_{ij}x^ix^j=r^2$$
(2.1)
The geometry of $`S^2`$ can be formulated in terms of the algebra $`𝒞(S^2)`$ of functions $`f(x^i)`$ on $`S^2`$ admitting a polynomial expansion in the $`x^i`$:

$$f(x^i)=f_0+f_ix^i+\frac{1}{2}f_{ij}x^ix^j+\mathrm{}.$$
(2.2)
Let us truncate this algebra by requiring that all coefficients in the expansion apart from $`f_0`$ and $`f_i`$ are zero. In order to turn this linear approximation to a true algebra, it is possible to replace the $`x^i`$ with the algebra $`M_2`$ of complex $`2\mathrm{x}2`$ complex matrices. Therefore we identify $`x^i`$ with the algebra of Pauli matrices:

$$x^ix^i=\frac{\alpha }{2}\sigma ^i$$
(2.3)
Moreover the Casimir of the algebra can be taken as a constant and coincides with the constraint (2.1) , by imposing that

$$\alpha ^2=\frac{4}{3}r^2$$
(2.4)
The algebra $`M_2`$ describes a fuzzy sphere, where only the north and south poles can be distinguished.

Keeping the term quadratic in the $`x^i`$, the quadratic approximation to the commutative algebra of functions can be turned into an algebra, by identifying $`x^i`$ with the algebra $`M_3`$ of complex $`3\mathrm{x}3`$ matrices. Generalizing this truncation to the $`n`$-term of the series (2.2) we can define the general fuzzy sphere in terms of the algebra $`M_n`$ of complex $`n\mathrm{x}n`$ matrices, through the identification

$$x^ix^i=\alpha J^i$$
(2.5)
where $`J^i`$ is a $`n\mathrm{x}n`$ representation of the $`SU(2)`$ algebra.

Therefore the fuzzy sphere ----- can be defined by the commutation relations:

$`[x_i,x_j]`$ $`=`$ $`i\alpha ϵ_{ijk}x_k`$
$`\alpha `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{r}{\sqrt{j(j+1)}}}`$
$`{\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}(x^i)^2`$ $`=`$ $`r^2`$ (2.6)
This can be realized as an algebra of a couple of oscillators

$`x_1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{\alpha }}{2}}(a_0a_1^{}+a_1a_0^{})`$
$`x_2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{\alpha }}{2}}i(a_0a_1^{}a_1a_0^{})`$
$`x_3`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{\alpha }}{2}}(a_0^{}a_0a_1^{}a_1)`$
$`\widehat{N}`$ $`=`$ $`a_0^{}a_0+a_1^{}a_1`$ (2.7)
together with the commutation relations

$$[a_i,a_j^{}]=\delta _{ij}$$
(2.8)
where the operator $`\widehat{\alpha }`$ is defined as

$$\widehat{\alpha }=2\frac{r}{\sqrt{\widehat{N}(\widehat{N}+2)}}$$
(2.9)
and is equal to $`\alpha `$ for representations at fixed number $`\widehat{N}=N=2j`$, as we demand to build our fixed-$`j`$ fuzzy sphere.

In the classical limit $`N\mathrm{}`$ this construction corresponds to the $`U(1)`$ principal (Hopf) fibration $`\pi :S^3S^2`$ over the two dimensional sphere $`S^2`$ . An ambiguity of a $`U(1)`$ factor into the definition of the oscillators is cancelled in the $`x^i`$ combinations. The same trick is useful to compute the projectors in terms of vector valued fields. They carry the $`U(1)`$ ambiguity, which is cancelled in the combination of bra and ket vectors giving rise to the projectors. Therefore our vector fields will be defined in terms of the oscillators while the projectors will be functions only of the $`x_i`$ algebra.

## 3 The projectors for n-monopoles

The monopole connections can be alternatively described by some projected valued fields $`P_n(x)`$. The canonical connection associated with the projector $`P_n(x)`$ has curvature given by

$$^2=P_ndP_ndP_n$$
(3.1)
To construct the n-monopole projectors $`P_n(x)`$ for the fuzzy sphere consider the n-dimensional vectors

$$|\psi _n>=N_n\left(\begin{array}{c}(a_0)^n\\ \mathrm{}\\ \sqrt{\left(\begin{array}{c}n\\ k\end{array}\right)}(a_0)^{nk}(a_1)^k\\ \mathrm{}\\ (a_1)^n\end{array}\right)$$
(3.2)
The normalization condition for these vectors fixes the function $`N_n`$ to be dependent on the number operator $`\widehat{N}=a_0^{}a_0+a_1^{}a_1`$:

$`<\psi _n|\psi _n>`$ $`=`$ $`1`$
$`N_n=N_n(\widehat{N})`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{_{i=0}^{n1}(\widehat{N}i+n)}}}`$ (3.3)
The corresponding $`n`$-monopole connection $`1`$-form has a very simple expression in terms of the vector valued function $`|\psi _n>`$ :

$$A_n^{}=<\psi _n|d\psi _n>$$
(3.4)
The projector for the $`n`$-monopole is defined to be:

$$P_n=|\psi _n><\psi _n|n<N+2$$
(3.5)
and satisfies the basic properties of a projector, being

$$P_n^2=P_nP_n^{}=P_n$$
(3.6)
It is easy to notice that in the product there appears only combinations of oscillators that can be written in terms of the algebra $`x_i`$ of the fuzzy sphere. Therefore $`P_n`$ is a matrix having as entries the basic operator algebra of the theory.

Consistently the projector $`P_n`$ has a nonvanishing positive trace given by:

$`TrP_n`$ $`=`$ $`Tr|\psi _n><\psi _n|=N_n{\displaystyle \underset{i=0}{\overset{n1}{}}}(a_0^{}a_0+a_1^{}a_1+i+2)N_n=`$ (3.7)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{N}+n+1}{\widehat{N}+1}}`$
In the classical limit $`N\mathrm{}`$ the trace is equal 1, and the corresponding classical projectors  are matrices of numbers of rank $`1`$.

## 4 The projectors for n-antimonopoles

To construct the n-antimonopole solution it is enough to take the adjoint of the vectors (3.2). Consider the n-dimensional vectors

$$|\psi _n>=N_n\left(\begin{array}{c}(a_0^{})^n\\ \mathrm{}\\ \sqrt{\left(\begin{array}{c}n\\ k\end{array}\right)}(a_0^{})^{nk}(a_1^{})^k\\ \mathrm{}\\ (a_1^{})^n\end{array}\right)$$
(4.1)
The normalization condition for these vectors fixes the function $`N_n`$ to be dependent on the number operator $`\widehat{N}=a_0^{}a_0+a_1^{}a_1`$:

$`<\psi _n|\psi _n>`$ $`=`$ $`1`$
$`N_n=N_n(\widehat{N})`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{_{i=0}^{n1}(\widehat{N}+i+2n)}}}`$ (4.2)
The corresponding projector for antimonopoles is:

$$P_n=|\psi _n><\psi _n|n<N+2$$
(4.3)
Consistently the projector $`P_n`$ has a trace given by:

$`TrP_n`$ $`=`$ $`Tr|\psi _n><\psi _n|=N_n{\displaystyle \underset{i=0}{\overset{n1}{}}}(a_0^{}a_0+a_1^{}a_1i)N_n=`$ (4.4)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{N}+1n}{\widehat{N}+1}}`$
This trace is positive definite if and only if the following bound is respected:

$$n<N+1$$
(4.5)
## 5 Classical limit and Chern Class

The projectors above, defining the $`n`$-projective moduli of the non-commutative theory, can be checked to reproduce the known results for the classical sphere ( see Landi  ). We use here the tecnology of the non-commutative geometry to compute the first Chern class, and therefore

$$c_n=\frac{1}{2\pi }𝑑\mathrm{\Omega }Tr(\gamma _5P_ndP_ndP_n)$$
(5.1)
It is not difficult to manipolate the Chern class

$$P_ndP_ndP_n=|\psi _n>\{<d\psi _n|d\psi _n>+(<\psi _n|d\psi _n>)^2\}<\psi _n|$$
(5.2)
We use as derivation the commutator of the classical Dirac operator on the sphere :

$$D=\sigma ^iL^i+1$$
(5.3)
that anticommutes with the classical $`\gamma _5`$ operator  given by

$$\gamma _5=\sigma ^i\frac{x^i}{r}$$
(5.4)
The Lie derivative $`L_i`$ has as commutation relations

$$[L^i,L^j]=iϵ_{ijk}L^k$$
(5.5)
and can be taken as the following adjoint action:

$$L^i=[\frac{x^i}{\widehat{\alpha }},.]$$
(5.6)
In order to compute the n-monopole 1-form connection, we first compute

$`<\psi _n|{\displaystyle \frac{x_i}{\widehat{\alpha }}}|\psi _n>`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{N}n}{\widehat{N}}}{\displaystyle \frac{x_i}{\widehat{\alpha }}}`$
$`<\psi _n|{\displaystyle \frac{x_i}{\widehat{\alpha }}}|\psi _n>`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{N}+2+n}{\widehat{N}+2}}{\displaystyle \frac{x_i}{\widehat{\alpha }}}`$ (5.7)
by observing that $`x_i`$ is always a combination of oscillators $`a_i`$ and their adjoint $`a_j^{}`$. These can be commuted with $`|\psi _{\pm n}>N_n^1(\widehat{N}n)`$ and $`N_n^1(\widehat{N}n)<\psi _{\pm n}|`$ and the resulting scalar product is just the normalization condition.

Therefore the Lie derivative , applied to the oscillators, gives rise to:

$`<\psi _n|\sigma _iL_i|\psi _n>`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{n}{\widehat{N}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\sigma ^ix^i}{\widehat{\alpha }}}`$
$`<\psi _n|\sigma _iL_i|\psi _n>`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{n}{\widehat{N}+2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\sigma ^ix^i}{\widehat{\alpha }}}`$ (5.8)
Since $`(\sigma ^ix^i)^2=r^2\widehat{\alpha }\sigma ^ix^i`$ we can compute the second term in eq. (5.2):

$`(<\psi _n|d\psi _n>)^2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{n^2}{\widehat{N}^2}}({\displaystyle \frac{r^2}{\widehat{\alpha }^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\sigma ^ix^i}{\widehat{\alpha }}})`$
$`(<\psi _n|d\psi _n>)^2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{n^2}{(\widehat{N}+2)^2}}({\displaystyle \frac{r^2}{\widehat{\alpha }^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\sigma ^ix^i}{\widehat{\alpha }}})`$ (5.9)
Its contribution to the first Chern class is vanishing in the classical limit, since the only surviving term to the trace is depressed by a factor $`\frac{1}{N}`$.

Let us compute the first term of eq. (5.2) which should give the real contribution:

$`<d\psi _n|d\psi _n>`$ $`=`$ (5.10)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\sigma ^ix^i}{\widehat{\alpha }}}<\psi _n|{\displaystyle \frac{\sigma ^ix^i}{\widehat{\alpha }}}|\psi _n>({\displaystyle \frac{\sigma ^ix^i}{\widehat{\alpha }}})^2<\psi _n|({\displaystyle \frac{\sigma ^ix^i}{\widehat{\alpha }}})^2|\psi _n>+<\psi _n|{\displaystyle \frac{\sigma ^ix^i}{\widehat{\alpha }}}|\psi _n>{\displaystyle \frac{\sigma ^ix^i}{\widehat{\alpha }}}`$
$`=`$ $`n{\displaystyle \frac{\sigma ^ix^i}{N\alpha }}{\displaystyle \frac{n(2+n)}{4}}`$
and

$$<d\psi _n|d\psi _n>=n\frac{\sigma ^ix^i}{(N+2)\alpha }\frac{n(2+n)}{4}$$
(5.11)
In the classical limit the first term in r.h.s. of eqs. (5.10) and (5.11) is equivalent to $`n\gamma ^5/2`$ while the other term is cancelled by the trace. Therefore the total contribution is given by:

$$c_n=\frac{1}{2\pi }𝑑\mathrm{\Omega }Tr(\gamma ^5P_ndP_ndP_n)=n(\gamma ^5)^2=n$$
(5.12)
## 6 Conclusion

An alternative description to the connections and curvature on the fiber bundle can be obtained immerging the fiber bundle at fixed toplogy into a trivial universal bundle, from whom it can be recovered with a projection. The projected valued field give a complete global description of the vector bundle, within each topology sector.

In this paper we have shown how to derive the exact expressions for the non commutative $`n`$-monopole on the fuzzy sphere. We have checked that their topological charge ( first Chern class for the vector bundle ) are integers in the classical limit, using the classical expression of the Dirac operator. It would be interesting to verify that these topological charge are integers in the full non-commutative theory, but this requires the knowlegde of the full non-commutative Dirac operator on the sphere. A proposal of it is given in -. However, to our knowledge, it remains to be checked that it verifies all axioms of non-commutative geometry.