Hyponormal block Toeplitz operators with finite rank self-commutators
Abstract
In this paper, we identify a large class of hyponormal block Toeplitz operators whose self-commutators are of finite rank. Recall that an operator $T_\varphi$ is hyponormal and $[T_\varphi^{\ast}, T_\varphi]$ is a finite rank operator if and only if there exists a finite Blaschke product $b$ in $\mathcal{E}(\varphi)$, where $$ \mathcal{E}(\varphi) := \{k \in H^\infty(\mathbb{T}): \left\|k\right\|_\infty \le 1 \textrm{ and } \varphi-k\cdot \bar{\varphi} \in H^\infty(\mathbb{T}) \}. $$ An analogous set $\mathcal{E}(\Phi)$ can be defined for a matrix-valued symbol $\Phi$. In the block Toeplitz operator case, we first establish that if a symbol $\Phi$ is in $L^\infty(\mathbb{T},M_n)$ and if $\mathcal{E}(\Phi)$ contains a constant unitary matrix $U$, then $T_\Phi$ is normal. We then obtain a suitable converse, under a mild assumption on the symbol. Next, we provide a partial answer to a conjecture recently posed by R.E. Curto, I.S. Hwang and W.Y. Lee [10, Conjecture 6.1]. Concretely, assume that $\Phi \in H^{\infty}(\mathbb{T}, M_n)$ is such that $\Phi^{\ast}$ is of bounded type and $T_\Phi$ is hyponormal. Then $[T_\Phi^{\ast}, T_\Phi]$ is a finite rank operator if and only if there exists a finite Blaschke–Potapov product in $\mathcal{E}(\widetilde{\Phi})$, where $ \widetilde\Phi:=\breve{\Phi}^*$ ; and ; $\breve{\Phi}(e^{i\theta}):=\Phi(e^{-i\theta})$.
Keywords
References
- M. Abhinand, R. E. Curto, I. S. Hwang, W. Y. Lee and T. Prasad: Subnormal block Toeplitz operators, J. d’Analyse Math., 155 (2025), 485–500.
- M. Abhinand, R. E. Curto, I. S. Hwang, W. Y. Lee and T. Prasad: Subnormal and hyponormal Toeplitz operators with operator-valued symbols, Preprint 2025.
- M. Abrahamse: Subnormal Toeplitz operators and functions of bounded type, Duke Math. J., 43 (1976), 597–604.
- J. Bram: Subnormal operators, Duke Math. J., 22 (1955), 75–94.
- A. Brown, P. R. Halmos: Algebraic Properties of Toeplitz operators, J. Reine Angew. Math., 213 (1964), 89–102.
- M. Cafasso: Block Toeplitz determinants, constrained KP and Gelfand-Dickey hierarchies, Math. Phys. Anal. Geom., 11 (2008), 11–51.
- J. B. Conway: The theory of subnormal operators, Math surveys and Monographs, vol. 36, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence (1991).
- C. Cowen: Hyponormality of Toeplitz operators, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc., 103 (1988), 809–812.
Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
Operator Algebras and Functional Analysis
Journal Section
Research Article
Authors
Raul Curto
*
0000-0002-1776-5080
United States
Publication Date
March 6, 2026
Submission Date
November 4, 2025
Acceptance Date
February 28, 2026
Published in Issue
Year 2026 Volume: 9 Number: 1
