Commuting Toeplitz operators with harmonic symbols (Q809338)

Let \(L^ 2(D, dA)\) be the Hilbert space of complex-valued functions on the unit disk \(D\), \(dA\) being the usual area measure. Let \(L^ 2_ a\) be the Bergman space, i.e. the subspace of analytic functions in \(L^ 2(D,dA)\). For \(\phi \in L^{\infty}(D, dA)\), the Toeplitz operator \(T_{\phi}\) is defined by \(T_{\phi}f=P(\phi f),\) \(f\in L^ 2_ a\), where \(P\) is the orthogonal projection of \(L^ 2(D,dA)\) onto \(L^ 2_ a.\) The main result is the following: Let \(\phi\) and \(\psi\) be harmonic. Then two Toeplitz operators \(T_{\phi}\) and \(T_{\psi}\) commute if and only if \(\phi\) and \(\psi\) are both analytic in \(D\), or \({\bar \phi}\) and \({\bar \psi}\) are the same, or \(\phi\), \(\psi\) and 1 are linearly dependent on \(D\). The version of this statement was known for Hardy spaces \(H^ 2(\delta D)\), see \textit{A. Brown} and \textit{P. Halmos} [J. Reine Angew. Math. 213, 89--102 (1963; Zbl 0116.32501)], where quite different technique was used. See also \textit{S. Axler} and \textit{P. Gorkin} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 309, 711--723 (1989; Zbl 0706.46040)] and \textit{D. Zheng} [J.Funct. Anal. 83, 98--120 (1989; Zbl 0678.47026)] for special cases.