Essential self-adjointness of Schrödinger-type operators

The essential self-adjointness of the strongly elliptic operator L = ∑_j,k=1ⁿ (?_j ? ib_j(x)) a_jk(x)(?_k ? ib_k(x)) + q(x) acting on C₀^∞(Rⁿ) is considered, where the matrix (a_jk) is real and symmetric, b_j and q are real, a_jk and b_j are sufficiently smooth, and q?L_loc². It has been shown by Ural'ceva and also Laptev that if q is bounded below and n ? 3 the minimal operator may not be self-adjoint if the principal coefficients rise too rapidly. Thus a theorem of Weyl for ordinary differential operators does not extend to partial differential operators. In this paper it is shown that if q is bounded below and if the principal coefficients are “well behaved” within a sequence of closed shells which go to infinity, then the minimal operator is self-adjoint. It is also shown that a number of results which were known to be true when q is sufficiently smooth may be extended to include the case where q?L_loc². The principal tools used are a distribution inequality due to Tosio Kato and a general maximum principle due to Walter Littman.