Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2025/iii/paper-327/2/d/solution

The heat operator
is hypoelliptic: its symbol satisfies the derivative estimates that yield local regularity by the argument in part (c). It is not elliptic as an operator of total order two, because its principal symbol is , which vanishes at every nonzero covector with . Hence it is a hypoelliptic differential operator that is not an elliptic differential operator.

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