The Fredholm index for elements of Toeplitz-composition \(C^*\)-algebras (Q2470876)

This paper analyzes the essential spectrum and index theory of elements of the \(C^*\)-algebra \(\mathcal T C_\varphi\) generated by the Toeplitz algebra and a single linear-fractional composition operator \(C_\varphi\), where \(f \mapsto f \circ \varphi\), in the algebra of all bounded operators on the Hardy space \(H^2\). The starting point is the observation that, for any automorphism \(\varphi\) of the unit disk \(\mathbb D\), there is a short exact sequence \(0\to\mathcal K\to\mathcal T C_\varphi\to C(\mathbb T)\rtimes_\varphi\mathbb Z\to 0\), where \(\mathcal K\) is the compact operators on \(H^2\) and \(C(\mathbb T)\rtimes_\varphi\mathbb Z\) is a certain crossed product. This is motivated by earlier work of \textit{M.\,T.\thinspace Jury} [Indiana Univ.\ Math.\ J.\ 56, 3171--3192 (2007; Zbl 1153.46041)] and \textit{T.\,Kriete, B.\,MacCluer} and \textit{J.\,Moorhouse} [J.~Operator Theory 58, 135--156 (2007; Zbl 1134.47303)] about algebras related to \(\mathcal T C_\varphi\), and the discussion of representations of the crossed product C\(^*\)-algebra \(C(\overline{\mathbb D}) \rtimes_\varphi \mathbb Z\) by \textit{M.--D.\thinspace Choi} and \textit{F.\,Latrémolière} [Houston J.~Math.\ (to appear)]. Based on this exact sequence, the author obtains interesting new results about the Fredholm theory and the computation of the index of elements \(T \in \mathcal T C_\varphi\) in the case of linear-fractional automorphisms \(\varphi\) which are elliptic of finite order, hyperbolic, or parabolic. To state a sample result, let \(\varphi\) be hyperbolic and consider \(T = \sum_{n=0}^N T_{f_{n}}U_\varphi^n + K \in \mathcal T C_\varphi\), where \(U_\varphi = (C_\varphi C_\varphi^*)^{-1/2}C_\varphi\), \(K\) is a compact operator and \(f_0, \dots , f_N \in C(\mathbb T)\). If the polynomials \(z \mapsto \sum_{n=0}^N f_n(\lambda_+)z^n\) and \(z \mapsto \sum_{n=0}^N f_n(\lambda_-)z^n\) have no zeroes in \(\overline{\mathbb D}\), then \(T\) is a Fredholm operator if and only if \(T_{f_{0}}\) is Fredholm, and in this case \(\text{ind}(T)=\text{ind}(T_{f_{0}})\). Here, \(\lambda_+, \lambda_- \in \mathbb T\) are the fixed points of \(\varphi\). The author also complements earlier results of Kriete, MacCluer and Moorhouse by computing the index of Fredholm operators \(T\in\mathcal T C_\varphi\) in the case where \(\varphi\) is a non-automorphic linear-fractional map on \(\mathbb D\) such that \(\varphi (\zeta) = \eta\) for some \(\zeta \neq \eta\) in \(\mathbb T\). This is achieved by demonstrating that in the short exact sequence \(0 \to \mathcal K \to \mathcal T C_\varphi \to \mathcal D \to 0\) devised by those authors the C\(^*\)-algebra \(\mathcal D\) is actually homotopy equivalent to \(C(\mathbb T)\).