Toeplitz kernels and the backward shift

In this paper we study the kernels of Toeplitz operators on both the scalar and the vector-valued Hardy space for $1 < p < \infty$. We show existence of a minimal kernel of any element of the vector-valued Hardy space and we determine a symbol for the corresponding Toeplitz operator. In the scalar case we give an explicit description of a maximal function for a given Toeplitz kernel. In the vectorial case we show not all Toeplitz kernels have a maximal function and in the case of $p=2$ we find the exact conditions for when a Toeplitz kernel has a maximal function. For both the scalar and vector-valued Hardy space we study the minimal Toeplitz kernel containing multiple elements of the Hardy space, we also find an equivalent condition for a function in the Smirnov class to be cyclic for the backwards shift.