Alternative proofs of Mandrekar’s theorem

We present two alternative proofs of Mandrekar’s theorem, which states that an invariant subspace of the Hardy space on the bidisc is of Beurling type precisely when the shifts satisfy a doubly commuting condition [Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 103 (1988), pp. 145–148]. The first proof uses properties of Toeplitz operators to derive a formula for the reproducing kernel of certain shift invariant subspaces, which can then be used to characterize them. The second proof relies on the reproducing property in order to show that the reproducing kernel at the origin must generate the entire shift invariant subspace.