Homomorphisms and composition operators on algebras of analytic functions of bounded type

Let U and V be convex and balanced open subsets of the Banach spaces X and Y, respectively. In this paper we study the following question: given two Fréchet algebras of holomorphic functions of bounded type on U and V, respectively, that are algebra isomorphic, can we deduce that X and Y (or X^* and Y^*) are isomorphic? We prove that if X^* or Y^* has the approximation property and H_wu(U) and H_wu(V) are topologically algebra isomorphic, then X^* and Y^* are isomorphic (the converse being true when U and V are the whole space). We get analogous results for H_b(U) and H_b(V), giving conditions under which an algebra isomorphism between H_b(X) and H_b(Y) is equivalent to an isomorphism between X^* and Y^*. We also obtain characterizations of different algebra homomorphisms as composition operators, study the structure of the spectrum of the algebras under consideration and show the existence of homomorphisms on H_b(X) with pathological behaviors.