The volume contains selected papers of the Spectral Function Theory seminar, Leningrad Branch of Steklov Mathematical Institute. The papers are mostly devoted to the theory of Toeplitz and model operators. These subjects are considered here from various points of view. Several papers concern the relationships of Toeplitz operators to weighted polynomial approximation. Namely, two papers by B. Solomyak and A. Volberg intensively treat the problem of spectra! multiplicity f~r analytic Toeplitz operators (which are, in fact, multiplication operators) and my paper can serve as an introduction to the problem. This theme of multiplicities is continued in a paper by V. Vasyunin where the multiplicity of the spectrum is computed for Hilbert space contractions with finite defect indices. V. Peller's paper deals with a perturbation theory problem for Toeplitz operators. In a paper by D. Yakubovich a new similarity model for a class of Toeplitz operators is constructed. S. Treil' presents a survey of a part of spectral function theory for vector valued function (Szego-Kolmogorov extreme prob!ems for operator weights, bases of vector rational functions, estimations of Hilbert transform with respect to operator weights, the operator corona problem). As a concluding remark I dare only note that the whole collection convinces us once more without a doubt of the fruitfullness of the natural union of operator theory and complex analysis (if at all the union of these fields is at all different from their intersection).

The theory of Toeplitz operators has come to resemble more and more in recent years the classical theory of pseudodifferential operators. For instance, Toeplitz operators possess a symbolic calculus analogous to the usual symbolic calculus, and by symbolic means one can construct parametrices for Toeplitz operators and create new Toeplitz operators out of old ones by functional operations. If P is a self-adjoint pseudodifferential operator on a compact manifold with an elliptic symbol that is of order greater than zero, then it has a discrete spectrum. Also, it is well known that the asymptotic behavior of its eigenvalues is closely related to the behavior of the bicharacteristic flow generated by its symbol. It is natural to ask if similar results are true for Toeplitz operators. In the course of answering this question, the authors explore in depth the analogies between Toeplitz operators and pseudodifferential operators and show that both can be viewed as the "quantized" objects associated with functions on compact contact manifolds.

Award-winning monograph of the Ferran Sunyer i Balaguer Prize 1997. This book is a self-contained exposition of the spectral theory of Toeplitz operators with piecewise continuous symbols and singular integral operators with piecewise continuous coefficients. It includes an introduction to Carleson curves, Muckenhoupt weights, weighted norm inequalities, local principles, Wiener-Hopf factorization, and Banach algebras generated by idempotents. Some basic phenomena in the field and the techniques for treating them came to be understood only in recent years and are comprehensively presented here for the first time. The material has been polished in an effort to make advanced topics accessible to a broad readership. The book is addressed to a wide audience of students and mathematicians interested in real and complex analysis, functional analysis and operator theory.

A friendly introduction to Toeplitz theory and its applications throughout modern functional analysis.

The volume contains selected papers of the Spectral Function Theory seminar, Leningrad Branch of Steklov Mathematical Institute. The papers are mostly devoted to the theory of Toeplitz and model operators. These subjects are considered here from various points of view. Several papers concern the relationships of Toeplitz operators to weighted polynomial approximation. Namely, two papers by B. Solomyak and A. Volberg intensively treat the problem of spectra! multiplicity f~r analytic Toeplitz operators (which are, in fact, multiplication operators) and my paper can serve as an introduction to the problem. This theme of multiplicities is continued in a paper by V. Vasyunin where the multiplicity of the spectrum is computed for Hilbert space contractions with finite defect indices. V. Peller's paper deals with a perturbation theory problem for Toeplitz operators. In a paper by D. Yakubovich a new similarity model for a class of Toeplitz operators is constructed. S. Treil' presents a survey of a part of spectral function theory for vector valued function (Szego-Kolmogorov extreme prob!ems for operator weights, bases of vector rational functions, estimations of Hilbert transform with respect to operator weights, the operator corona problem). As a concluding remark I dare only note that the whole collection convinces us once more without a doubt of the fruitfullness of the natural union of operator theory and complex analysis (if at all the union of these fields is at all different from their intersection).

We offer the reader of this book some specimens of "infinity" that we seized from the "mathematical jungle" and trapped within the solid cage of analysis The creation of the theory of singular integral equations in the mid 20th century is associated with the names of N.1. Muskhelishvili, F.D. Gakhov, N.P. Vekua and their numerous students and followers and is marked by the fact that it relied principally on methods of complex analysis. In the early 1960s, the development of this theory received a powerful impulse from the ideas and methods of functional analysis that were then brought into the picture. Its modern architecture is due to a constellation of brilliant mathemati- cians and the scientific collectives that they produced (S.G. Mikhlin, M.G. Krein, B.V. Khvedelidze, 1. Gohberg, LB. Simonenko, A. Devinatz, H. Widom, R.G. Dou- glas, D. Sarason, A.P. Calderon, S. Prossdorf, B. Silbermann, and others). In the ensuing period, the Fredholm theory of singular integral operators with a finite index was completed in its main aspects in wide classes of Banach and Frechet spaces.

This book presents the basic tools of modern analysis within the context of the fundamental problem of operator theory: to calculate spectra of specific operators on infinite dimensional spaces, especially operators on Hilbert spaces. The tools are diverse, and they provide the basis for more refined methods that allow one to approach problems that go well beyond the computation of spectra: the mathematical foundations of quantum physics, noncommutative K-theory, and the classification of simple C*-algebras being three areas of current research activity which require mastery of the material presented here.