Pseudodifferential operators with heavy spectrum

We establish Fredholm criteria and index formulas for one-dimensional zero-order pseudodifferential operators with piecewise continuous generating functions onL ^p spaces with Muckenhoupt weights. The Fredholm symbol of such operators is shown to be a matrix function defined on a set which, roughly speaking, is a cylinder with a certain collection of horn shaped handles. The presence of these horns implies that, unlike the case ofL ^p spaces without weight or with so-called power weights, the spectrum may contain heavy parts, i. e. the set of the interior points of the spectrum need not be empty. Our proof makes essential use of recent results by Finck, Roch, Silbermann, Gohberg, and Krupnik on the inverse closedness of certain Banach algebras.Research supported by the Alfried Krupp Förderpreis für junge Hochschullehrer of the Krupp Foundation.