Surjectivity of differential operators and linear topological invariants for spaces of zero solutions (Q668255)

\textit{B. Malgrange} [Math. Scand. 4, 271--275 (1956; Zbl 0075.10801)] proved that for any open set $X\subseteq \mathbb{R}^n $ a constant coefficient differential operator $P(D):C^\infty (X)\to C^\infty (X)$ is surjective if and only if $X$ is $P$-convex, which is a condition on the supports of $u$ and $P(-D)u$ for compactly supported distributions $u\in \mathcal{E}'(X)$. \textit{L. Hörmander} [Ann. Math. (2) 76, 148--170 (1962; Zbl 0109.08501 )] proved that $P(D)$ is surjective in $\mathcal{D}'(X)$ if and only if $X$ is $P$-convex as well as $P$-convex for singular supports. Except for some special cases, no geometric characterization for (singular) $P$-convexity is known. \par One of the known sufficient conditions for (singular) $P$-convexity is that the boundary distance of $X$ satisfies the minimal principle in every characteristic hyperplane (certain affine subspaces related to $P$). In this paper it is shown that under certain conditions on $P$ the minimum principle is also necessary. For $P$ acting along a subspace $W\subseteq \mathbb{R}^n$ and being elliptic on $W$ it is shown for any open subset $X\subseteq \mathbb{R}^n$ that $X$ is $P$-convex if and only if $X$ is singularly $P$-convex if and only if the minimum principle holds in $x+W$ for all $x\in \mathbb{R}^n$. For a surjective operator $P(D):\mathcal{D}'(X)\to \mathcal{D}'(X)$, $X\subseteq \mathbb{R}^n$, conditions for surjectivity of the augmented operator $P^+(D):\mathcal{D}'(X\times \mathbb{R})\to \mathcal{D}'(X\times \mathbb{R})$ are given. \par Furthermore, for $E$ being in the class of duals of certain Fréchet spaces or $E=\mathcal{D}'(Y)$, $Y\subseteq \mathbb{R}^n$ open, and certain classes of differential operators $P(D)$, surjectivity on $C^\infty (X,E)$ or $\mathcal{D}'(X,E)$ follows from surjectivity of $P(D)$ on $C^\infty (X)$ or $\mathcal{D}'(X)$.