We give a characterization of those compact sets in the plane with finitely many holes that are images of disk-algebra functions. We also show that the image of the closed unit disk via a polynomial is, in general, not polynomially convex.
K E Y W O R D Sadmissible compacta, crosscuts, images of disk-algebra functions, Jordan domains, locally connected continua, polynomial convexity, polynomials, winding number M S C ( 2 0 2 0 ) 30H05 Primary, 30C10, 30C20 Secondary
INTRODUCTIONAt the Mini-Workshop Complex Approximation and Universality of the MFO in 2008 the first author asked for a characterization of the images of the disk-algebra functions (see [4, p. 344] and [6]). More precisely, let 𝐴(𝐃) be the space of functions continuous on the closed unit disk 𝐃 and holomorphic in its interior 𝔻. Given a compact set 𝐾 of the plane, under which conditions on 𝐾 there exists 𝑓 ∈ 𝐴(𝐃) such that 𝑓(𝐃) = 𝐾? By the Hahn-Mazurkiewicz theorem (see, e.g., [7, Theorem 13.21]) a compact metric space 𝑋 is a curve (that is, the continuous image via a map ℎ of [0,1]) if and only if 𝑋 is a locally path-connected continuum or a singleton. Hence, the map 𝑓(𝑧) ∶= ℎ(|𝑧|) gives a continuous map of 𝐃 onto 𝑋. Holomorphy puts additional restrictions on 𝐾. For example, the interior 𝐾 • must of course be nonvoid if 𝐾 is not a singleton. In Proposition 4.1, several easy necessary conditions will be provided. 1 Our main result is to give necessary and sufficient conditions on 𝐾 within the class of planar compacta with a finite number (or none) of holes for the existence of 𝑓 ∈ 𝐴(𝐃) with 𝑓(𝐃) = 𝐾. We also answer the question whether the image of 𝐃 with respect to a polynomial 𝑝 ∈ ℂ[𝑧] is polynomially convex, or whether 𝑝(𝐃) may have holes.
KNOWN TOPOLOGICAL TOOLSIn this preliminary section, we present for the reader's convenience several known topological results in order to avoid to look up too many different sources, some of them not being directly available. As it is quite often the case with topological results involving connectedness, many of these results are intuitively "clear," but the formal proofs in this abstract setting are quite involved (e.g., see, for instance, [7, Proposition 1.171] or [7, Theorem 12.71]).Recall that a topological space 𝑋 is locally connected if for every 𝑥 ∈ 𝑋 and every neighborhood 𝑁(𝑥) ⊆ 𝑋 of 𝑥 there exists a connected open set 𝐶 with 𝑥 ∈ 𝐶 ⊆ 𝑁(𝑥) and 𝑋 is locally path-connected if for every 𝑥 ∈ 𝑋 and every neighborhood 𝑈 ⊆ 𝑋 of 𝑥 there exists a neighborhood 𝑉 of 𝑥 such that 𝑉 ⊆ 𝑈 and for any pair (𝑢, 𝑣) of points in 𝑉 there is a path from 𝑢 to 𝑣 lying in 𝑈.Dedicated to the memory of H. Garth Dales and Jean Esterle.