On essential-selfadjointness of differential operators on closed manifolds (Q2103473)

Let \(X\) be a compact \(C^\infty\) manifold without boundary equipped with a smooth density and \(P\) be a symmetric differential operator of degree 2 on \(X\) with smooth coefficients. The essential self-adjointness of \(P\) is also called \textit{quantum completeness}. \(P\) is called \textit{classically complete} if the maximal interval of definition of any integral curve of the Hamiltonian vector field of the symbol of \(P\) is \(\mathbb R\). It is well known that classical completeness and quantum completeness are not equivalent in general. But for the case described above, the authors guess the validity of the following conjecture. Operator \(P\) is essentially self-adjoint if and only if it is classically complete. The authors prove this conjecture for differential operators of degree two on the circle, for differential operators of degree one on any closed manifold and for Lorentzian Laplacians on generic Lorentzian surfaces.