Hyponormal Toeplitz operators with matrix-valued circulant symbols (Q371826)

Let \(L^2 = L^2(\mathbb{T})\) be the set of all square-integrable functions on the unit circle \(\mathbb{T} = \partial \mathbb{D}\) in the complex plane, \(H^2 = H^2(\mathbb{T})\) be the corresponding Hardy space and \(H^\infty = L^\infty \cap H^2\). Let \(M_n\) denote the set of \(n \times n\) complex matrices. Then \( L^2_{\mathbb{C}^n} = L^2 \otimes \mathbb{C}^n\), \(H^2_{\mathbb{C}^n} = H^2 \otimes \mathbb{C}^n\), \(L^\infty_{M_n} = L^\infty \otimes M_n\) and \(H^\infty_{M_n} = H^\infty \otimes M_n\). If \(\Phi \in L^\infty_{M_n}\), then the block Toeplitz operator \(T_\Phi\) and the block Hankel operator on \(H^2_{\mathbb{C}^n}\) are defined by \(T_\Phi f = P_n (\Phi f)\) and \(H_\Phi f = JP_n^\perp (\Phi f)\) for \(f \in H^2_{\mathbb{C}^n}\), where \(P_n\) and \(P_n^\perp\) denote the orthogonal projections that map from \(L^2_{\mathbb{C}^n}\) onto \(H^2_{\mathbb{C}^n}\) and \((H^2_{\mathbb{C}^n})^\perp\), respectively, and \(J\) denotes the unitary operator on \(L^2_{\mathbb{C}^n}\) given by \(J(g)(z)= \bar{z}I_n g(\bar{z})\) for \(g \in L^2_{\mathbb{C}^n}\). (\(I_n\) denotes the \(n \times n\) identity matrix.) Let \(\mathcal{E}(\Phi) = \{ K \in H^\infty_{M_n} : \|K\|_\infty \leq 1\) and \(\Phi - K\Phi^* \in H^\infty_{M_n} \}\). If \(\Phi \in L^\infty_{M_n}\), then \([T_\Phi^*, T_\Phi] = H_{\Phi^*}^*H_{\Phi^*} - H_\Phi^*H_\Phi + T_{\Phi^*\Phi - \Phi\Phi^*}\). Since the normality of \(\Phi\) is a necessary condition for the hyponormality of \(T_\Phi\), the positivity of \(H_{\Phi^*}^*H_{\Phi^*} - H_\Phi^*H_\Phi\) is an essential condition for the hyponormality of \(T_\Phi\). The pseudo-selfcommutator of \(T_\Phi\) is defined by \([T_\Phi^*, T_\Phi]_p = H_{\Phi^*}^*H_{\Phi^*} - H_\Phi^*H_\Phi\). Then \(T_\Phi\) is said to be pseudo-hyponormal if \([T_\Phi^*, T_\Phi]_p\) is positive semidefinite. Let \(I\) denote the identity matrix and \(I_\zeta = \zeta I\) (\(\zeta \in L^\infty\)). For an inner matrix function \(\Theta \in H^2_{M_n}\), \(\mathcal{H}(\Theta) = H^2_{\mathcal{C}^n} \ominus \Theta H^2_{\mathcal{C}^n}\), \(\mathcal{H}_\Theta = H^2_{M_n} \ominus \Theta H^2_{M_n}\) and \(\mathcal{K}_\Theta = H^2_{M_n} \ominus H^2_{M_n}\Theta\). The authors establish the following theorem. Theorem 3.3 (Main theorem): Let \(\Psi = A + \Theta^*A \in L^\infty_{M_n}\) be a circulant function and let \(\Phi = \Phi_-^* + \Phi_+ \in L^\infty_{M_n}\) be of the form \(\Phi_+ = A\Theta_0 + B\) and \(\Phi_- = \Theta A^* \Theta_0 + C\), where \(\Theta_0 = I_{\theta_0}\) for an inner function \(\theta_0\) and \(B, C \in \mathcal{K}_{I_z \Theta_0}\). Then \(T_\Phi\) is pseudo-hyponormal iff \((A^*)^{-1}\Theta^* A \in \mathcal{E}(C^* + B)\). Moreover, if \(T_\Phi\) is hyponormal, then the rank of the self-commutator of \(T_\Phi\) can be computed from the formula \(\operatorname{rank} [T_\Phi^*, T_\Phi] = \deg [\det((A^*)^{-1}\Theta^* A)]\), where \(\deg(k)\) denotes the degree of \(k\), meaning the number of zeros of \(k\) (in the open unit disk \(\mathbb{D}\)) if \(k\) is a finite Blaschke product and \(\infty\) otherwise.