A. Böttcher

We give a survey on generalized Krein algebras $K_{p,q}^{\alpha,\beta}$ and their applications to Toeplitz determinants. Our methods originated in a paper by Mark Krein of 1966, where he showed that $K_{2,2}^{1/2,1/2}$ is a Banach algebra. Subsequently, Widom proved the strong Szego limit theorem for block Toeplitz determinants with symbols in $(K_{2,2}^{1/2,1/2})_{N\times N}$ and later two of the authors studied symbols in the generalized Krein algebras $(K_{p,q}^{\alpha,\beta})_{N\times N}$, where $\lambda:=1/p+1/q=\alpha+\beta$ and $\lambda=1$. We here extend these results to $0< \lambda <1$. The entire paper is based on fundamental work by Mark Krein, ranging from operator ideals through Toeplitz operators up to Wiener-Hopf factorization.