An extremal problem for functions annihilated by a Toeplitz operator (Q2009430)

For \(p\in[1,\infty]\), let \(H^p:=H^p(\mathbb{T})\) denote the Hardy space considered as a subspace of \(L^p:=L^p(\mathbb{T})\) on the unit circle \(\mathbb{T}\), let \[ K_p(\varphi):=\big\{f\in H^p:\ T_\varphi f=0\big\}, \] where \(T_\varphi\) is the Toeplitz operator with symbol \(\varphi\in L^\infty\), and let \[ V_\varphi:=\big\{|f|^2:\ f\in K_2(\varphi),\ 0<\|f\|_2\le 1\big\}\quad\mbox{if}\quad K_2(\varphi)\ne\{0\}. \] The paper deals with studying the moduli of functions \(f\in K_p(\varphi)\). In particular, the following statements are established. If \(p\in[1,\infty]\), \(\varphi\in L^\infty\setminus\{0\}\), \(K_p(\varphi)\ne\{0\}\), and \(g\) is a nonnegative function in \(L^{p/2}\), then the following two assertions are equivalent: (i.) there is an \(f\in K_p(\varphi)\) such that \(|f|^2=g\ \) a.e. on \(\mathbb{T}\), (ii.) \(\overline{z\varphi}g\in H^{p/2}\). If \(\varphi\in L^\infty\setminus\{0\}\), \(K_2(\varphi)\ne\{0\}\), and \(g\in V_\varphi\) with \(\|g\|_1=1\), then the following two assertions are equivalent: (i.) \(g\) is an extreme point of \(V_\varphi\), (ii.) \(\overline{z\varphi}g\) is an outer function in \(H^1\). Let \(\varphi\in L^\infty\setminus\{0\}\), \(f\in K_2(\varphi)\) and \(\|f\|_2=1\). Then the decomposition \[ |f|^2=\frac{1}{2}\big(|f_1|^2+|f_2|^2\big)\ \mbox{ a.e. on }\ \mathbb{T} \] with unit norm functions \(f_1,f_2\in K_2(\varphi)\), where \(|f_1|\ne|f_2|\) on a set of positive measure, exists if and only if either \(f\) or \(\widetilde{f}= \overline{z\varphi f}\) have a nonconstant inner factor.