Overdetermined elliptic systems (Q2431802)

The article discusses the notion of ellipticity for overdetermined systems. Naive application of the standard definition leads already to problems, if one considers a first-order form of Laplace's equations. Traditionally, this is resolved by using an approach based on a weighted symbol leading to the concept of DN-ellipticity (after Douglis and Nirenberg). Here it is shown that a much simpler solution lies in the completion to involution, as the origin of the problem are hidden integrability conditions. More precisely, it is proven that any system that is DN-elliptic becomes elliptic in the standard sense during its completion to involution. The converse is not true, as an explicit counter example demonstrates.