The [Stone-Weierstrass theorem][1] has an analog for the algebras of smooth functions, called > **Naсhbin's theorem**: An involutive subalgebra $A$ in the algebra ${\mathcal C}^\infty(M)$ of smooth functions on a smooth manifold $M$ is dense in ${\mathcal C}^\infty(M)$ if and only if $A$ separates the points and the tangent vectors of $M$. See details in: "L.Nachbin. Sur les algèbres denses de fonctions diffèrentiables sur une variètè, C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris 228 (1949) 1549-1551", or in [J.G.Llavona's monograph][2], or [here][3]. This is strange, I can't find an analog for the algebras of holomorphic functions (on complex manifolds). Did anybody think about this? > **Question**: let $A$ be a subalgebra in the algebra ${\mathcal O}(M)$ of holomorphic functions on a complex manifold $M$ (as a first approximation, we can think that $M$ is just an open subset in ${\mathbb C}^n$). Which conditions should $A$ satisfy for being dense in ${\mathcal O}(M)$? ---------- **Remark.** By topology on ${\mathcal O}(M)$ I mean the usual topology of uniform convergence on compact sets in $M$. The algebra ${\mathcal C}^\infty(M)$ is also endowed with its usual topology, which can be described, for example, as follows. 1. For each function $f\in {\mathcal C}^\infty(M)$ let us define its *support* as the closure of the set of the points where $f$ does not vanish: $$ \text{supp}f=\overline{\{x\in M:\ f(x)\ne 0\}}. $$ An equivalent definition: $\text{supp}f$ is the set of the points in $M$ where $f$ has non-zero [germs][4]: $$ \text{supp}f=\{x\in M:\ f\not\equiv 0\ (\text{mod}\ x)\}. $$ 2. Let us define *differential operators* (see e.g. [S.Helgason's book][5]) on $M$ as linear mappings $D:{\mathcal C}^\infty(M)\to {\mathcal C}^\infty(M)$ which do not extend the support of functions: $$ \text{supp}Df\subseteq \text{supp}f,\quad f\in{\mathcal C}^\infty(M). $$ Equivalently, $D$ is *local*, i.e. the value of $Df$ in a point $x\in M$ depends only on the germ of $f$ in $x$: $$ \forall f,g\in{\mathcal C}^\infty(M)\quad \forall x\in M\qquad f\equiv g\ (\text{mod}\ x)\quad\Longrightarrow\quad Df(x)=Dg(x). $$ 3. Then we say that a sequence of functions $f_n$ converges to a function $f$ in ${\mathcal C}^\infty(M)$ $$ f_n\overset{{\mathcal C}^\infty(M)}{\underset{n\to\infty}{\longrightarrow}}f $$ if and only if for each differential operator $D:{\mathcal C}^\infty(M)\to {\mathcal C}^\infty(M)$ the sequence of functions $Df_n$ converges to $Df$ in the space ${\mathcal C}(M)$ of continuous functions with the usual *topology of uniform convergence on compact sets* in $M$: $$ Df_n\overset{{\mathcal C}(M)}{\underset{n\to\infty}{\longrightarrow}}Df $$ Of course, this is equivalent to the convergence in ${\mathcal C}^\infty(U)$ for each smooth local chart $\varphi:U\to V$, $U\subseteq\mathbb{R}^m$, $V\subseteq M$. This is also equivalent to what Alex M. writes about vector fields: $$ f_n\overset{{\mathcal C}^\infty(M)}{\underset{n\to\infty}{\longrightarrow}}f \quad\Longleftrightarrow\quad \forall k\ \forall X_1,...,X_k\in{\mathcal X}(M) \quad X_1...X_kf_n\overset{{\mathcal C}(M)}{\underset{n\to\infty}{\longrightarrow}}X_1...X_kf. $$ [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone%E2%80%93Weierstrass_theorem [2]: https://books.google.ru/books/about/Approximation_of_Continuously_Differenti.html?id=C7auJPRK5nAC&redir_esc=y [3]: http://arxiv.org/abs/1303.2424 [4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germ_(mathematics) [5]: http://www.amazon.com/Geometric-Invariant-Differential-Operators-Spherical/dp/0821826735