Motivated by recent papers [11] and [19] we prove a boundary Schwarz lemma (Burns-Krantz rigidity type theorem) for non-smooth boundary points of the polydisc and symmetrized bidisc. Basic tool in the proofs is the phenomenon of invariance of complex geodesics (and their left inverses) being somehow regular at the boundary point under the mapping satisfying the property as in the Burns-Krantz rigidity theorem that lets the problem reduce to one dimensional problem. Additionally, we make a discussion on bounded symmetric domains and suggest a way to prove the Burns-Krantz rigidity type theorem in these domains that however cannot be applied for all bounded symmetric domains.

We give sufficient conditions for the essential spectrum of the Hermitian square of a class of Hankel operators on the Bergman space of the polydisc to contain intervals. We also compute the spectrum in case the symbol is a monomial.

For commuting contractions $T_1,\dots,T_n$ acting on a Hilbert space $\mathscr{H}$ with $T=\prod_{i=1}^n T_i$, we find a necessary and sufficient condition such that $(T_1,\dots,T_n)$ dilates to a commuting tuple of isometries $(V_1,\dots,V_n)$ on the minimal isometric dilation space of T with $V=\prod_{i=1}^nV_i$ being the minimal isometric dilation of T. This isometric dilation provides a commutant lifting of $(T_1, \dots, T_n)$ on the minimal isometric dilation space of T. We construct both Schäffer and Sz. Nagy–Foias-type isometric dilations for $(T_1,\dots,T_n)$ on the minimal dilation spaces of T. Also, a different dilation is constructed when the product T is a $C._0$ contraction, that is, ${T^*}^n \rightarrow 0$ as $n \rightarrow \infty$. As a consequence of these dilation theorems, we obtain different functional models for $(T_1,\dots,T_n)$ in terms of multiplication operators on vectorial Hardy spaces. One notable fact about our models is that the multipliers are all analytic functions in one variable. The dilation when T is a $C._0$ contraction leads to a conditional factorization of T. Several examples have been constructed.

Let $T = (T_1, \ldots , T_n)$ be a commuting tuple of bounded linear operators on a Hilbert space $\mathcal{H}$. The multiplicity of $T$ is the cardinality of a minimal generating set with respect to $T$. In this paper, we establish an additive formula for multiplicities of a class of commuting tuples of operators. A special case of the main result states the following: Let $n \geq 2$, and let $\mathcal{Q}_i$, $i = 1, \ldots , n$, be a proper closed shift co-invariant subspaces of the Dirichlet space or the Hardy space over the unit disc in $\mathbb {C}$. If $\mathcal{Q}_i^{\bot }$, $i = 1, \ldots , n$, is a zero-based shift invariant subspace, then the multiplicity of the joint $M_{\textbf {z}} = (M_{z_1}, \ldots , M_{z_n})$-invariant subspace $(\mathcal{Q}_1 \otimes \cdots \otimes \mathcal{Q}_n)^{\perp }$ of the Dirichlet space or the Hardy space over the unit polydisc in $\mathbb {C}^{n}$ is given by

\[ \mbox{mult}_{M_{\textbf{{z}}}|_{ (\mathcal{Q}_1 \otimes \cdots \otimes \mathcal{Q}_n)^{{\perp}}}} (\mathcal{Q}_1 \otimes \cdots \otimes \mathcal{Q}_n)^{{\perp}} = \sum_{i=1}^{n} (\mbox{mult}_{M_z|_{\mathcal{Q}_i^{{\perp}}}} (\mathcal{Q}_i^{\bot})) = n. \]

For a compact subset K of the boundary of a compact Hausdorff space X, six properties that K may have in relation to the algebra A(X) are considered. It is shown that in relation to the algebra A(Dn), where Dn denotes the n-dimensional polydisc, the property of being totally null is weaker than the other five properties. A general condition is given on the algebra A(X) which implies the existence of a totally null set that is not null, and several conditions are stated for A(X) , each of which is sufficient for a totally null set to be a null set.

It is proved that there exists a universal good inner function in the open unit polydisc Un, that is its non Euclidean translates are dense in the closed unit ball of H∞ (Un) and that there exists a universal function in the open unit ball Bn of Cn. These generalize Heins' result on universal Blaschke products.

1980 Mathematics subject classification (Amer. Math. Soc.): primary 32 A 10.

Let Un be the unit polydisc in Cn and let Tn be its distinguished boundary. It is shown that a function f ∈ H∞(Un) is inner if and only if ∣f(Φ)∣ = 1 for all Φ in the maximal ideal space of L∞(Tn). This generalizes a result of Csordas.