\(L^p\)-contractivity of semigroups generated by parabolic matrix differential operators (Q4934615)

The author investigates the \(L^p\)-contractivity of semigroups generated by second-order linear partial differential operators. Initially, weakly coupled systems involving second-order linear elliptic partial differential operators are examined and, under suitable conditions, it is established that the \((L^p(\Omega))^N\)-dissipativity of the corresponding operator \({\mathcal A}_p\) can be expressed in terms of the \((L^2(\Omega))^N\)-dissipativity of an associated operator \({\mathcal A}\). Here, \(\Omega\) is an open and bounded subset of \(\mathbb{R}^n\) with suitably smooth boundary and \(p\in (1,\infty)\). A consequence of this is that if \({\mathcal A}\) generates a contraction semigroup on \((L^2(\Omega))^N\) then the original operator \({\mathcal A}_p\) will generate a contraction semigroup on \((L^p(\Omega))^N\). The convergence of this result is also shown to hold for a subclass of operators which includes the case of scalar operators. The author then considers operators associated with systems which are uniformly parabolic in the sense of Petrovskij but not necessarily weakly coupled. Necessary and sufficient conditions are presented for the generation of contraction semigroups on \((L^p(\Omega))^N\) for all \(p\in [1,\infty]\) simultaneously. As a corollary, a necessary and sufficient condition is obtained for the Schrödinger operator with magnetic field to generate a contraction semigroup on \(L^p(\Omega)\) for all \(p\in [1,\infty]\) simultaneously. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0923.00034].