Exponential decay of solution energy for equations associated with some operator models of mechanics (Q2486705)

The authors consider the following equation \[ \ddot{x}+B\dot{x}+Ax=0, \tag{*} \] where \(x(t)\) is a function ranging in a suitable Hilbert space \({\mathcal H}\), and \(A\) and \(B\) are operators in \({\mathcal H}\). The above equation often characterizes the motion of a mechanical system. The operator \(A\) represents the potential energy of the system and is selfadjoint and uniformly positive. The operator \(B\) models gyroscopic and damping forces, and hence is accretive. For \(\theta \in {\mathbb R}\), by \({\mathcal H}_{\theta}\) it is denoted the Hilbert space scale generated by \(A\). Equation (*) can be rewritten as the first-order system \[ \dot{\text{x}}(t)={\mathcal T}^0{\text{ x}}(t), \quad {\text{ x}}:\;=\left( \begin{matrix} x_1(t) \\ \vdots \\ x_2(t) \end{matrix} \right), \] \noindent where \({\mathcal T}^0\) is the operator in the energy space \({\mathcal E}={\mathcal H}_1\times{\mathcal H}\) defined by the formulas \[ {\mathcal T}^0= \left( \begin{matrix} 0 & I \\ \\ -A & -B \end{matrix} \right), \quad {\mathcal D}({\mathcal T}^0)={\mathcal H}_2\times({\mathcal D}(B)\cap {\mathcal H}_1). \] The authors describe the closure \({\mathcal T}\) of the operator \({\mathcal T}^0\) and find conditions under which \({\mathcal T}\) is \(m\)-dissipative.