Commuting Toeplitz operators on the Hardy space of the bidisk (Q2474975)

If \(D\) is the unit disk of the complex plane and \(T\) its boundary, then \(D^2\) is the bidisk and \(T^2\) the torus. The classical Lebesgue and Hardy spaces for these are denoted as \(L^2(T^2)\) and \(H^2(D^2)\). If \(u\in L^\infty(T^2)\) and \(P\) is the projection from \(L^2(T^2)\) onto \(H^2(D^2)\), then \(T_u f=P(uf)\) defines a Toeplitz operator \(T_u\) with symbol \(u\). This paper characterizes the symbols \(u\) and \(v\) for which \(T_uT_v=T_vT_u\) on \(H^2(D^2)\) when \(v\) is of the form \(v(z,w)=h(w)z^\alpha+k(w)\bar{z}^\beta\), \((z,w)\in T^2\), where \(h,k\) are nonzero functions from \(L^\infty(T)\) and \(\alpha,\beta\) are positive integers. The characterization involves conditions on the Fourier coefficients \(\hat{u}_k(w)=\int_T w(z,w)z^{-k}\,d\sigma(z)\), \(w\in T\) and \(\sigma\) denoting normalized arc length. All of these should vanish, except \(\hat{u}_\alpha(w)\) and \(\hat{u}_{-\beta}(w)\) that have to satisfy further conditions. Some results obtained in [\textit{A. Brown} and \textit{P. R. Halmos}, J.~Reine Angew. Math. 213, 89--102 (1963; Zbl 0116.32501)] and [\textit{K. Stroethoff}, Contemp. Math. 232, 313--319 (1999; Zbl 0941.47023)] appear as special cases.