The Friedrichs extension for elliptic wedge operators of second order

Abstract

Let ${\mathcal M}$ be a smooth compact manifold whose boundary is the total space of a fibration ${\mathcal N}\to {\mathcal Y}$ with compact fibers, let $E\to{\mathcal M}$ be a vector bundle. Let \begin{equation} A:C_c^\infty( \overset{\,\,\circ} {\mathcal M};E)\subset x^{-\nu} L^2_b({\mathcal M};E)\to x^{-\nu} L^2_b({\mathcal M};E) $ \tag*{(†)} \end{equation} be a second order elliptic semibounded wedge operator. Under certain mild natural conditions on the indicial and normal families of $A$, the trace bundle of $A$ relative to $\nu$ splits as a direct sum ${\mathscr T}={\mathscr T}_F\oplus{\mathscr T}_{aF}$ and there is a natural map ${\mathfrak P} :C^\infty({\mathcal Y};{\mathscr T}_F)\to C^\infty( \overset{\,\,\circ} {\mathcal M};E)$ such that $C^\infty_{{\mathscr T}_F}({\mathcal M};E)={\mathfrak P} (C^\infty({\mathcal Y};{\mathscr T}_F)) +\dot C^\infty({\mathcal M};E)\subset {\mathcal D}_{\max}(A)$. It is shown that the closure of $A$ when given the domain $C^\infty_{{\mathscr T}_F}({\mathcal M};E)$ is the Friedrichs extension of (†) and that this extension is a Fredholm operator with compact resolvent. Also given are theorems pertaining the structure of the domain of the extension which completely characterize the regularity of its elements at the boundary.