A lower bound in Nehari's theorem on the polydisc

By theorems of Ferguson and Lacey (d=2) and Lacey and Terwilleger (d>2), Nehari’s theorem is known to hold on the polydisc D^d for d>1, i.e., if H_\psi is a bounded Hankel form on H^2(D^d) with analytic symbol \psi, then there is a function \phi in L^\infty(\T^d) such that \psi is the Riesz projection of \phi. A method proposed in Helson’s last paper is used to show that the constant C_d in the estimate |\phi|\infty\le C_d |H\psi| grows at least exponentially with d; it follows that there is no analogue of Nehari’s theorem on the infinite-dimensional polydisc.