Contraction semigroup Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
A contraction semigroup is a strongly continuous semigroup of bounded linear operators satisfying for every . The Hille-Yosida theorem characterizes its infinitesimal generator of a semigroup by dense domain, closedness, and the resolvent estimates for real and integers .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 105 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A contraction semigroup on a Banach space consists of bounded linear operators with , , , and as for each . Its infinitesimal generator of a semigroup isFor density, Yosida averaging of a semigroup gives . Taking the difference quotient of this Bochner integral shows that and . Strong continuity gives , so is dense.
For closedness, the semigroup restricted to its generator domain satisfiesIf and , pass to the limit in this identity. After dividing by , strong continuity gives . Hence and . This proves generator of a strongly continuous semigroup is closed and densely defined.
The contraction form of the Hille-Yosida theorem states that a linear operator generates a contraction semigroup if and only if it is densely defined and closed, every real lies in its resolvent set, andHere the bound implies the others by taking powers of the same bounded resolvent.
The H1 space is with weak derivative and squared norm . The displayed weighted space is the one-dimensional harmonic oscillator form domain, with inner productIf is Cauchy in , it converges in to , and converges in L2 space to some . On each bounded interval, multiplication by is bounded, so there. Thus and convergence holds in , proving completeness and the Hilbert space property. Equivalently this is closedness of the multiplication operator by .
For the Sobolev characterization by bounded difference quotients, if thenThe last assertion uses continuity of translation of a function in L2 space. Conversely, if and the quotients are uniformly bounded for , take a weakly convergent subsequence as . For every test function ,The weak limit is therefore the weak derivative . This proves the characterization.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 105 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Write . Smooth compactly supported functions lie in and are dense in L2 space, so is densely defined.
For , use the formon the one-dimensional harmonic oscillator form domain . It is bounded and coercive in the norm. The Lax-Milgram theorem gives a unique satisfying for every . Thus in distributions.
We must verify the full specified operator domain, not just the form domain. The equation first gives . For compactly supported functions, integration by parts gives the graph estimate for the harmonic oscillator, obtained fromApply this to , with on , supported in , and derivatives bounded by and . Its right-hand source is , uniformly bounded in L2 space. The estimate and the Fatou lemma give ; the original equation then gives , and hence . Thus , proving that is onto. The energy identity proves injectivity and the resolvent of the shifted harmonic oscillator estimateTo prove closedness, suppose and in L2 space. For one fixed ,Therefore belongs to the range of the resolvent, namely , and .
All hypotheses of the Hille-Yosida theorem now hold; the resolvent bound is stronger than . Let be its contraction semigroup. The exponentially shifted semigrouphas generator . It is continuous in L2 space, takes the initial value , and satisfies . For , its time derivative exists in L2 space and equals , so the equation holds as a strong L2 space solution. For general initial data it is the semigroup solution, without an unproved pointwise differentiability claim.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 319 1 e Solution 2026-09-28
The familyinherits the identity, semigroup property, and strong continuity from , whileIts difference quotient satisfiesfor . Conversely, existence of this limit implies existence of the generator limit for , so andThis is the exponentially shifted semigroup construction.
The Hille-Yosida theorem in the uniformly bounded case says that a linear operator on a Banach space generates a C0-semigroup with if and only if:
- is a closed linear operator whose domain is a dense subset of the Banach space;
- ;
- for every and integer ,
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 319 1 a Solution 2026-09-28
A C0-semigroup on a Banach space is a family such thatfor every . Its infinitesimal generator of a semigroup iswith generator domain
Resolvent of the shifted harmonic oscillator 2026-10-06
For on , the form is coercive on the one-dimensional harmonic oscillator form domain when . The Lax-Milgram theorem gives a unique weak solution of . The graph estimate for the harmonic oscillator puts it in , and gives the displayed resolvent bound. The domain is dense and the bounded resolvent proves closedness, so the Hille-Yosida theorem gives a contraction semigroup. An exponentially shifted semigroup with generator solves the heat equation with oscillator potential.