Abstract
It is proved that pointwise commuting formally normal operators which are dominated by a single essentially normal operator are essentially normal and essentially spectrally commuting. The question when essential normality of a polynomial in an operator implies essential normality of that operator is solved in this way. Furthermore, domination by essentially normal powers of formally normal operators are studied and, as a consequence, extended versions of Nelson's criterion for essential spectral commutativity are proposed. Subsequent domination results ensuring joint subnormality of systems of operators are proved. Several applications to multidimen-sional moment problems are found.
