Fredholmness of Toeplitz operators and corona problems (Q984419)

Let \({\mathcal M}^\pm_\infty=H^\pm_\infty+{\mathcal R}\), where \(H^\pm_\infty\) are the algebras of bounded analytic functions in \(\mathbb{C}^\pm= \{z\in\mathbb{C}:\pm\operatorname{Im}z>0\}\) and \({\mathcal R}\) denotes the algebra of all rational functions without poles in \(\mathbb{R}\cup\{\infty\}\). The meromorphic corona problem \[ \varphi_{1\pm}^M\widetilde{\varphi}_{1\pm}^M+\varphi_{2\pm}^M \widetilde{\varphi}_{2\pm}^M=1 \tag{1} \] with corona data \(\varphi_{1\pm}^M,\,\varphi_{2\pm}^M\in{\mathcal M}^\pm_\infty\) and corona solutions \(\widetilde{\varphi}_{1\pm}^M,\,\widetilde{\varphi}_{\pm}^M\in{\mathcal M}^\pm_\infty\) is studied. Let \(G\) be a \(2\times 2\) matrix function with entries in \(L_\infty (\mathbb{R})\) and let the Riemann-Hilbert problem \(G\varphi_+^M=\varphi_-^M\) have a solution \(\varphi_\pm^M= (\varphi_{1\pm}^M,\,\varphi_{2\pm}^M)^T\) with \(\varphi_{1\pm}^M,\,\varphi_{2\pm}^M\in{\mathcal M}^\pm_\infty\) such that corresponding corona problems (1) are solvable. It is proved that then the Toeplitz operator \(T_G\) with matrix symbol \(G\) is Fredholm on the Hardy space \((H_p^+(\mathbb{R}))^2\) \((1<p<\infty)\) if and only if the operator \(T_{\det G}\) is Fredholm on the space \(H_p^+(\mathbb{R})\), and in that case \(\text{Ind}\,T_G=\text{Ind}\,T_{\det G}\). Conditions for the invertibility, injectivity and surjectivity of \(T_G\) are also obtained. Estimates for partial indices of matrix symbols for several classes of Toeplitz operators as well as Fredholm properties for such operators are established.