Analytic Properties of Self-Reproducing Families under Contour Convolution

Abstract

This note grew out of two questions arising in different settings. The first concerns recognizing holomorphic functions among continuous functions on an annulus. The second concerns what self-reproducing subsets can tell us about semigroups of functions arising in analysis. Our analytic starting point is a variation on the classical relation between holomorphy and invariance of contour integrals. It identifies the holomorphic functions as the largest class containing the constant function 1 for which a contour convolution is independent of the chosen curve for every pair of functions. On this class, convolution amounts to multiplying Laurent coefficients. We then study families $B$ satisfying $B\diamond B=B$. We show that expressing a function as a convolution product of $m$ holomorphic functions corresponds precisely to its extension to a wider annulus determined by $m$. This identifies the largest self-reproducing family as the functions extending holomorphically to the punctured plane. We also prove that uniform boundedness on a fixed subannulus surrounding the unit circle forces all members of such a family to have Laurent expansions supported on one common finite set. A general semigroup theorem describes the minimal self-reproducing families.