Toeplitz multiplication and graded factorization of determinant recurrences
We study how determinant recurrences of banded Toeplitz matrices behave when their Laurent symbols are multiplied. Two classical structures underlie the problem. Clean banded Toeplitz determinants have a root-product description of their recurrences, while a product of two finite Toeplitz sections differs from the finite section of the product by finite-rank corner corrections. We connect these structures by identifying multiplication-induced boundary defects with exterior-degree sectors of the determinant recurrence. To each polynomial core we associate recurrence polynomials for all exterior degrees. Multiplication of cores becomes a graded convolution via composed products, while complementary degrees are related by a scaled reciprocal duality. On the matrix side, one-sided factors produce a defect filtration whose successive pieces are exactly these sectors. For general two-sided factors, independently weighting the two corner corrections gives an interval filtration: increasing either defect order adds one adjacent sector, and the cumulative recurrences are generically minimal. The multiplication-induced same-corner minors used in these filtrations lie in the standard row-column state module, whereas cross-corner imbalance corresponds instead to Laurent recentering. Opposite Laurent recenterings realize the individual sectors directly, and for several factors the admissible recenterings form an explicit lattice polytope. The pentadiagonal case gives the basic $1+4+1$ decomposition. The resulting framework gives a factor-level description of how finite-section boundary effects generate the recurrence spectrum of structured banded Toeplitz products.