A spectral radius type formula for approximation numbers of composition operators

Abstract

For approximation numbers $a_n (C_\phi)$ of composition operators $C_\phi$ on weighted analytic Hilbert spaces, including the Hardy, Bergman and Dirichlet cases, with symbol $\phi$ of uniform norm $< 1$, we prove that $\lim_{n \to \infty} [a_n (C_\phi)]^{1/n} = \e^{- 1/ \capa [\phi (\D)]}$, where $\capa [\phi (\D)]$ is the Green capacity of $\phi (\D)$ in $\D$. This formula holds also for $H^p$ with $1 \leq p < \infty$.