Operators with Symbol Hierarchies and Iterated Asymptotics

Abstract

Ellipticity of (pseudo-differential) operators on a manifold with geometric singularities gives rise to a hierarchy of symbols, associated with the system of lower-dimensional strata of the configuration. Classical examples are boundary value problems with interior and boundary symbols (the latter ones describe Shapiro–Lopatinskij ellipticity of boundary conditions), or operators on manifolds with conical singularities with interior and conormal symbols. Ellipticity on a manifold with smooth edges may be investigated by a suitable combination of ideas from boundary value problems and cone calculus. The present article studies another typical case, namely ellipticity on a manifold that has edges with conical singularities. Locally, we may talk about cones, where the base is a manifold with smooth edges. Parametrices and iterated asymptotics of solutions to elliptic equations are determined by a three-component symbolic hierarchy, with interior, edge and conormal symbols. We construct an operator algebra of 2 × 2-block matrices, where the upper left corners contain the interior operators, together with so-called Green and Mellin operators (caused by analogues of Green's function in boundary value problems as well as by asymptotic phenomena), while the other entries contain trace and potential conditions with respect to the edge and pseudo-differential operators on the edge itself that are of Fuchs type with respect to the conical points. The calculus is organized in an iterative way and can be viewed as a starting point for constructing similar operator algebras with asymptotics for higher polyhedral singularities.