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The assertion about all $H_0^1(U)\cap H^k(U)$ is false as printed in the original PDF. Take $U=(0,\pi )$, $L=-d^2/d{x}^2$, and $u=x(\pi -x)$. This is a nonzero smooth Dirichlet function, but $Lu=2$ and $L^{2}u=0$. In particularAlready at $k=3$, $B[Lu,Lu]$ is not defined on its stipulated domain, because $Lu=2\notin H_0^1$. Extending $B$ to $H^1$ for this example would give zero, not an inner product. Additional boundary conditions are essential.

The corrected spaces are the Sobolev domains of powers of an elliptic Dirichlet operator. Let $A_D$ be the Dirichlet realization of an elliptic operator, and setIn particular $X_1=H_0^1$, $X_2=H^2\cap H_0^1$, and $X_3$ also requires $T(Lu)=0$. The formulas in the question define inner products on these spaces.

Here is the norm-equivalence proof on the corrected domains. The base cases are the $L^2$ inner product at $k=0$ and part (i) at $k=1$. Standard Dirichlet elliptic regularity, together with invertibility from the Lax-Milgram theorem, gives for every integer $r\ge 0$The first estimate applies when $Tu=0$; invertibility absorbs the usual lower-order $L^2$ term. Moreover, $A_D:X_{r+2}\to X_r$ is an isomorphism. To see surjectivity, solve $Lu=f$ with zero Dirichlet trace for $f\in X_r$; regularity gives $u\in H^{r+2}$, and $T(L^{j}u)=T(L^{j-1}f)=0$ for each further required trace. The formulas satisfyInduction therefore givesInjectivity of each iterate of $A_D$ gives positive definiteness. These spaces are $D(A_D^{k/2})$; the spectral characterization of elliptic Dirichlet domains in the next part makes the half-powers precise. On the paper's uncorrected spaces the claim is valid at $k=0,1,2$, but fails in general beyond them.

For a strictly positive Dirichlet realization of an elliptic operator with smooth coefficients and smooth boundary, put $X_0=L^2(U)$. For each integer $k\ge 1$,These are the domains $D(A_D^{k/2})$, with norms equivalent to the indicated Sobolev space norms. The bilinear forms $((u,v){)}_{2l}=(L^{l}u,L^{l}v{)}_{L^2}$ and $((u,v){)}_{2l+1}=B[L^{l}u,L^{l}v]$ are inner products on $X_{2l}$ and $X_{2l+1}$. The higher boundary conditions are essential: for $L=-d^2/d{x}^2$ and $u=x(\pi -x)$, $u$ is smooth and zero at the boundary but $L^{2}u=0$, so $\Vert L^{2}u{\Vert }_2$ is not a norm on all of $H^4\cap H_0^1$. Repeated elliptic regularity proves $A_D:X_{k+2}\to X_k$ is an isomorphism, which gives the norm equivalence inductively from $X_0$ and $X_1=H_0^1$.

Let $(w_m)$ be the orthonormal basis of Dirichlet eigenfunctions for a strictly positive Dirichlet realization of an elliptic operator, with eigenvalues ${\lambda }_m$. ThenFor integers $k$, these domains are the Sobolev domains of powers of an elliptic Dirichlet operator. At $k=0$ the condition is just Parseval identity and imposes no boundary condition. At $k=1,2$ it describes $H_0^1$ and $H^2\cap H_0^1$, respectively. Higher $k$ impose traces of powers of $L$, not only the trace of $u$. For $L=-d^2/d{x}^2$ on $(0,\pi )$, the smooth Dirichlet function $u=x(\pi -x)$ has sine coefficients proportional to $m^{-3}$ for odd $m$, so the weighted sum diverges at $k=3$ despite its ordinary $H^3$ regularity.

For a time-independent strictly positive Dirichlet realization of an elliptic operator and $\psi \in L^2(U)$, the eigenfunction expansionsolves $u_t+Lu=0$ with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. For $t\ge \epsilon >0$, every power ${\lambda }_m^N$ times the exponential is bounded, so the series and all its time derivatives converge in all the Sobolev domains of powers of an elliptic Dirichlet operator. Elliptic regularity and the Sobolev embedding theorem give smoothness up to the spatial boundary for positive time. Parseval identity and the dominated convergence theorem give $u(t)\to \psi$ in $L^2$ as $t\downarrow 0$.