Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
A well-known theorem of Sarason [11] asserts that if $\left[ {{T}_{f}},\,{{T}_{h}} \right]$ is compact for every
$h\,\in \,{{H}^{\infty }}$, then
$f\,\in \,{{H}^{\infty }}\,+\,C\left( T \right)$. Using local analysis in the full Toeplitz algebra
$T\,=\,T\left( {{L}^{\infty }} \right)$, we show that the membership
$f\,\in \,{{H}^{\infty }}\,+\,C\left( T \right)$ can be inferred from the compactness of a much smaller collection of commutators
$\left[ {{T}_{f}},\,{{T}_{h}} \right]$. Using this strengthened result and a theorem of Davidson [2], we construct a proper
${{C}^{*}}$-subalgebra
$T\left( \mathcal{L} \right)$ of
$T$ which has the same essential commutant as that of
$T$. Thus the image of
$T\left( \mathcal{L} \right)$ in the Calkin algebra does not satisfy the double commutant relation [12], [1]. We will also show that no separable subalgebra
$\mathcal{S}$ of
$T$ is capable of conferring the membership
$f\,\in \,{{H}^{\infty }}\,+\,C\left( T \right)$ through the compactness of the commutators
$\left\{ \left[ {{T}_{f,}}\,S \right]\,:\,S\,\in \,\mathcal{S} \right\}$.