Uniform convergence of operator semigroups without time regularity (Q2064578)

In this interesting paper, the authors provide a unified approach to the analysis of the convergence at infinity and in the operator norm of bounded semigroups of bounded operators, which do not need to be strongly continuous. A typical case are the semigroups associated to elliptic equations with unbounded coefficients, which in general are not strongly continuous in the space of bounded and continuous functions. The approach of the paper is based on the classical Jacobs-de Leeuw-Glicksberg theory, used in the analysis of the long-time behaviour of strongly or weakly compact semigroups of bounded operators. The analysis in the paper is performed in a more abstract setting, where the halfline \([0,+\infty)\), with the usual sum of real numbers, is replaced by a commutative monoid \((S,+)\), and a fundamental tool, used by the authors, is the so-called ``semigroup at infinity'' \({\mathcal T}_{\infty}\), associated with the semigroup \(\{T(t)\}_{t\in S}\), introduced in [\textit{J. Glück} and \textit{M. Haase}, in: Positivity and noncommutative analysis. Festschrift in honour of Ben de Pagter on the occasion of his 65th birthday. Cham: Birkhäuser. 167--203 (2019; Zbl 1501.47064)], i.e., the set \(\bigcap_{r\in S}\overline{\{T(t): t\ge r\}}^{\mathcal{L}(E)}\). This definition of semigroup at infinity slightly differs from the classical one, where \({\mathcal T}_{\infty}\) is replaced by \({\mathcal T}=\overline{\{T(t): t\in S\}}\). One of the advantage of considering a slightly more general set of parameters \(S\) is related to the fact that it allows the authors to consider simultaneously the continuous case and the discrete case, where, in this latter, the semigroup is defined through the natural powers of a bounded operator \(T\). The convergence of \(T(t)\) at infinity in the operator norm is related to the structure of \({\mathcal T}_{\infty}\). It turns out that the convergence occurs if and only if \({\mathcal T}_{\infty}\) is a singleton or, equivalently, if and only if \({\mathcal T}_{\infty}\) is non-empty, compact and it acts as the identity on the range of the so-called projection at infinity. Then, in a series of propositions the authors provide some criteria for the semigroup at infinity to be non-empty and compact. In particular, they show that this is the case if \(\{T(t)\}_{t\in S}\) is a bounded semigroup and there exists \(t_0\in S\) such that the operator \(T(t_0)\) is quasi-compact (i.e., there exist a compact operator \(K\) and \(n\in\mathbb{N}\) such that \(\|T(t_0)^n-K\|_{\mathcal{L}(E)}<1)\). Another important situation, which implies that the semigroup at infinity is non-empty and compact, is when \(E\) is a complex Banach space, the semigroup \(\{T(t)\}_{t\ge 0}\) is strongly continuous at some \(s_0>0\), and, for each \(s>0\), the spectral values of \(T(s)\) on the complex unit circle are poles of the resolvent operator of \(T(s)\). Based on the previous results, the authors establish a number of results which imply the convergence in the operator norm of the semigroup \(\{T(t)\}_{t\in S}\). More precisely, the convergence is proved under one of the following conditions: \begin{itemize} \item \(E\) is a complex Banach lattice and \(\{T(t)\}_{t\ge 0}\) is a positive semigroup on \(E\), which is strongly continuous at some \(t_0>0\) and the spectral values of \(T(t)\) on the unit circle are poles of the resolvent of \(T(t)\), for every \(t>0\); \item \((S,+)\) is essentially divisible, \(E\) is a real Banach space that is projectively non-Hilbert, \(\{T(t)\}_{t\in S}\) is a contractive semigroup (i.e., \(\|T(t)\|_{\mathcal{L}(E)}\le 1\) for every \(t\in S\)); \item \((E,E_+)\) is an ordered Banach space with the positive cone \(E_+\) which differs from the singleton \(0\), \(\{T(t)\}_{t\in S}\) is a positive semigroup such that \(T(t_0)\) is quasi-compact for some \(t_0\in S\), and for every \(f\in E_+\setminus\{0\}\) \(T(t)f\) is an almost interior point of \(E_+\) for some \(t\in S\). \end{itemize} Applications of the obtained results in the case of coupled systems of partial differential equations with unbounded coefficients are presented in the last section of the paper. The paper is very well written and almost self-contained. Many examples and remarks help the reader to better understand the relevance of the results proved in the paper.