Joint Mean Oscillation and Local Ideals in the Toeplitz Algebra II: Local Commutivity and Essential Commutant

A well-known theorem of Sarason [11] asserts that if [Tf, Th] is compact for every h ∈ H∞, then f ∈ H∞ + C(T). Using local analysis in the full Toeplitz algebra τ = τ(L∞), we show that the membership f ∈ H∞ + C(T) can be inferred from the compactness of a much smaller collection of commutators [Tf, Th]. Using this strengthened result and a theorem of Davidson [2], we construct a proper C*-subalgebra τ(L)) of τ which has the same essential commutant as that of τ. Thus the image of τ(ℒ) in the Calkin algebra does not satisfy the double commutant relation [12], [1]. We will also show that no separable subalgebra Ѕ of τ is capable of conferring the membership f ∈ H∞ + C(T) through the compactness of the commutators {[Tf, S] : S ∈ Ѕ}.