Essential norm of Toeplitz operators and Hankel operators on the weighted Bergman space (Q1949281)

Let \(A_\alpha^2(D)\) be the weighted Bergman space on the unit disk \(D\) and \(C_\partial(\overline{D})\) be the set of continuous functions on \(\overline{D}\) and vanishing on the unit circle \(\partial D\). Denote by \(\|T\|_e\) the distance of an operator \(T\) to the ideal of compact operators. Inspired by the results of \textit{S. Axler} et al. [Ann. Math. (2) 109, 601--612 (1979; Zbl 0399.47024)], the author proves the following three results. Theorem 1. Let \(f\in L^\infty(D)\) and \(H_f\) be the associated Hankel operator on \(A_2^\alpha(D)\). If \(H_f\) is noncompact, then there exist infinitely many distinct compact Hankel operators \(H_\varphi\) with symbol \(\varphi\in C_\partial(\overline{D})\) such that \(\|H_f-H_\varphi\|=\|H_f\|_e\). Theorem 2. Let \(f\in L^\infty(D)\) and \(T_f\) be the associated Toeplitz operator on \(A_2^\alpha(D)\). If \(T_f\) is noncompact, then there exist infinitely many distinct compact Toeplitz operators \(T_\varphi\) with symbol \(\varphi\in C_\partial(\overline{D})\) such that \(\|T_f-T_\varphi\|=\|T_f\|_e\). Theorem 3. Let \(f\in L^\infty(D)\) be harmonic and \(H_f\) be the associated Hankel operator on \(A_2^\alpha(D)\). If \(H_f\) is noncompact, then there exist infinitely many distinct harmonic functions \(\varphi\) on the unit disk and continuous on the closure of the unit disk such that \(\|H_f-H_\varphi\|=\|H_f\|_e\).