Toeplitz kernels and the backward shift

Abstract

In this paper we study the kernels of Toeplitz operators on both the scalar and the vector-valued Hardy space for 1<p<∞. We show existence of a minimal kernel for any element of the vector-valued Hardy space and we determine a symbol for the corresponding Toeplitz operator. In the scalar case we give an explicit description of a maximal function for a given Toeplitz kernel which has been decomposed in to a certain form. In the vectorial case we show not all Toeplitz kernels have a maximal function and in the case of p=2 we find the exact conditions for when a Toeplitz kernel has a maximal function. For both the scalar and vector-valued Hardy space we study the minimal Toeplitz kernel containing multiple elements of the Hardy space, which in turn allows us to deduce an equivalent condition for a function in the Smirnov class to be cyclic for the backward shift.