Schur functions and inner functions on the bidisc

Abstract

We study representations of inner functions on the bidisc from a fractional linear transformation point of view, and provide sufficient conditions, in terms of colligation matrices, for the existence of two-variable inner functions. Here the sufficient conditions are not necessary in general, and we prove a weak converse for rational inner functions that admit one variable factorization. We present a complete classification of de Branges-Rovnyak kernels on the bidisc (which equally works in the setting of polydisc and the open unit ball of $\mathbb{C}^n$, $n \geq 1$). We also classify, in terms of Agler kernels, two-variable Schur functions that admit one variable factor.