Regularity of the composition operator in spaces of hölder functions

Abstract

We study the regularity of the composition operator ((f, g) → g o f) in spaces of Hölder differentiable functions. Depending on the smooth norms used to topologize f,g and their composition, the operator has different differentiability properties. We give complete and sharp results for the classical Hölder spaces of functions defined on geometrically well behaved open sets in Banach spaces. We also provide examples that show that the regularity conclusions are sharp and also that if the geometric conditions fail, even in finite dimensions, many elements of the theory of functions (smoothing, interpolation, extensions) can have somewhat unexpected properties.