For a sufficiently regular solution with zero Dirichlet boundary conditions, differentiate its squared L2 norm. Since ,
Integration by parts and the zero boundary trace give . The potential contribution is real because is real. The quantity in parentheses is consequently real, and its product with has zero real part. Hence
This is the energy method for a skew-adjoint evolution. For general L2 space data, the same result follows from the strongly continuous unitary group generated by a self-adjoint realization of . A sufficient assumption is a bounded real potential with the Dirichlet Laplacian; arbitrary real potentials require appropriate domain and self-adjointness assumptions. The differentiated proof presumes the regularity needed for the displayed integrals, rather than asserting it for every pointwise real function .
Under the Fourier transform, the operator is the Fourier multiplier operator
Its symbol is purely imaginary because is real. Consequently is skew-adjoint on with common domain and generates the strongly continuous unitary group
The Plancherel theorem gives , so every . Products of the frozen groups are also unitary; hence this is a stable family of semigroup generators with constants .
For ,
Since , the map is continuously differentiable from to . All hypotheses from part f are satisfied, so an evolution family exists on every finite interval .
In this commuting Fourier multiplier operator example the solution operator can also be written explicitly:
Its multiplier has absolute value one, directly confirming strong continuity, the evolution family law, preservation of , and the required derivatives. The equation combines the dispersive Airy equation with a time-dependent linear transport equation.
The Lumer-Phillips theorem says that a densely defined operator on a Hilbert space generates a contraction -semigroup exactly when it is maximal dissipative:
and is the whole space for some, equivalently every, .
For , self-adjointness of gives
Thus both and are dissipative. To check maximality, solve
The equations give
On Fourier mode , the last operator has multiplier , so it gives a unique and then whenever . Hence is onto; the same calculation applies to .
The two contraction semigroups generated by and are inverses. They form a strongly continuous unitary group on the complexification of , or an orthogonal group on the real space, and
for every .
Every strongly continuous unitary group has a unique possibly unbounded self-adjoint operator as its generator. Its domain consists of the vectors for which the norm limit of exists as . Conversely, the Borel functional calculus for a normal operator constructs a strongly continuous unitary group from every self-adjoint . Smooth averaging supplies a dense generator domain; Laplace integrals of and prove that are surjective, which establishes self-adjointness.