Fredholmness and finite section method for Toeplitz operators in \(\ell^ p(Z_+\times Z_+)\) with piecewise continuous symbols. I (Q793962)

This paper, divided into part I and part II, is concerned with discrete Toeplitz operators on the space \(\ell^ p\) over the quarter-plane for a class of piecewise continuous symbols. This class of symbols is usually denoted by \(PC_ p({\mathbb{T}}^ 2)\), and it contains, in particular, all finite sums of the form \(\Sigma a_ i(\xi)b_ i(\eta)\), \((\xi,\eta)\in {\mathbb{T}}^ 2\), where \(a_ i\) and \(b_ i\) are of bounded variation. A criterion for the Fredholmness of such operators as well as for the applicability of the finite section method is established. In the case \(p\neq 2\), these problems had been open for some years and their solution (more precisely, the sufficiency portion) essentially rests upon Krupnik's recent generalization of Douglas' local principle for \(C^*\)- algebras to the Banach algebra situation. Remark. The tensor products are referred to as the projective ones, although this is incorrect. However, it is always clear from the context what is meant actually. The proofs of Lemma 2 and of the Propositions 1 and 2 can be modified appropriately, so that the use of Lemma 1 can be avoided.