Commuting Toeplitz operators on the bidisk (Q694754)

For a function \(f\in L^\infty({\mathbb T}^2)\) on the torus \({\mathbb T}^2\), let \(\widehat{f}\) denote its harmonic extension. For \(i\in\{1,2\}\), the partial derivatives \(\partial/\partial z_i\) and \(\partial/\partial\overline{z}_i\) will be denoted by \(\partial_i\) and \(\overline{\partial}_i\), respectively. The authors extend the Brown-Halmos theorem [\textit{A. Brown} and \textit{P. R. Halmos}, J. Reine Angew. Math. 213, 89--102 (1963; Zbl 0116.32501)] on the commutativity of the product of two Toeplitz operators to the setting of \(H^2({\mathbb D}^2)\) and prove that, if \(f,g\in L^\infty({\mathbb T}^2)\), then the product of two Toeplitz operators \(T_f\) and \(T_g\) is commutative on \(H^2({\mathbb D}^2)\) if and only if the following three conditions hold: \[ \partial_1\widehat{f}(z_1,\zeta_2)\overline{\partial}_1\widehat{g}(z_1,\zeta_2)=\partial_1\widehat{g}(z_1,\zeta_2)\overline{\partial}_1\widehat{f}(z_1,\zeta_2)\tag{a} \] for almost all \(\zeta_2\in{\mathbb T}\) and all \(z_1\in{\mathbb D}\); \[ \partial_2\widehat{f}(\zeta_1,z_2)\overline{\partial}_2\widehat{g}(\zeta_1,z_2)=\partial_2\widehat{g}(\zeta_1,z_2)\overline{\partial}_2\widehat{f}(\zeta_1,z_2)\tag{b} \] for almost all \(\zeta_1\in{\mathbb T}\) and all \(z_2\in{\mathbb D}\); \[ \partial_1\partial_2 \widehat{f}(z_1,z_2)\overline{\partial}_1\overline{\partial}_2 \widehat{g}(z_1,z_2)=\partial_1\partial_2 \widehat{g}(z_1,z_2)\overline{\partial}_1\overline{\partial}_2 \widehat{f}(z_1,z_2)\tag{c} \] for \(z_1,z_2\in{\mathbb D}\). The main tools used in the proofs are the Berezin transform and the harmonic extension.