Boundary Behavior of Holomorphic Functions

This monograph examines the boundary behavior of holomorphic functions in several complex variables. Moving beyond the early ideas of Fatou and others, Koranyi and then Stein in the late 1960s and early 1970s deepened the study of Fatou-type theorems in several complex variables, showing that in a general context, approach regions of a shape dramatically larger than non-tangential will give rise to a Fatou-type theorem. These have become known as the admissible regions of Koranyi and Stein. It turns out, however, that the admissible approach regions are only optimal on strongly pseudoconvex domains. Considerable effort has been made in the last 20 years to adapt Fatou theory, and the approach regions in particular, to the Levi geometry of a given domain in multidimensional complex space. The work of Di Biase in the late 1990s is devoted to the Nagel--Stein phenomenon, describing a more general notion of approach region that supersedes the classical ideas of non-tangential and admissible. Krantz's work Function Theory of Several Complex Variables (2000), still the only introduction to the subject, focuses on methods based on maximal function estimates. To date, the main open problem, which is the special focus of this book, is the issue of determining the {it optimal natural approach regions} for the almost everywhere convergence to the boundary of certain smoothly bounded pseudoconvex domains. This book provides the proper framework for the eventual solution of the main problem. This work gives an updated, comprehensive, and self-contained exposition of many results that have never appeared in book form. Starting with foundational material, i.e., from the unit disc in one complexvariable, the reader is lead to the latest discoveries in higher dimensions. New results in boundary value issues of holomorphic functions are examined, which in turn point to new open problems. The book may be used by analysts for individual study or by graduate students.