Composition Operators and Classical Function Theory

The study of composition operators links some of the most basic questions you can ask about linear operators with beautiful classical results from analytic-function theory. The process invests old theorems with new mean­ ings, and bestows upon functional analysis an intriguing class of concrete linear operators. Best of all, the subject can be appreciated by anyone with an interest in function theory or functional analysis, and a background roughly equivalent to the following twelve chapters of Rudin's textbook Real and Complex Analysis [Rdn '87]: Chapters 1-7 (measure and integra­ tion, LP spaces, basic Hilbert and Banach space theory), and 10-14 (basic function theory through the Riemann Mapping Theorem). In this book I introduce the reader to both the theory of composition operators, and the classical results that form its infrastructure. I develop the subject in a way that emphasizes its geometric content, staying as much as possible within the prerequisites set out in the twelve fundamental chapters of Rudin's book. Although much of the material on operators is quite recent, this book is not intended to be an exhaustive survey. It is, quite simply, an invitation to join in the fun. The story goes something like this.