Construction of a unique self-adjoint generator for a symmetric local semigroup

A definition is given of a symmetric local semigroup of (unbounded) operators P(t) (0 ? t ? T for some T > 0) on a Hilbert space $\text{H}$, such that P(t) is eventually densely defined as t → 0. It is shown that there exists a unique (unbounded below) self-adjoint operator H on $\text{H}$ such that P(t) is a restriction of e^?tH. As an application it is proven that H₀ + V is essentially self-adjoint, where e^?tH₀ is an L^p-contractive semigroup and V is multiplication by a real measurable function such that V ∈ L^{2 + ε} and e^?δV ∈ L¹ for some ε, δ > 0.