$L^2$ well posed Cauchy Problems and Symmetrizability of First Order Systems

Abstract

The Cauchy problem for first order system $L(t, x, \D_t, \D_x)$ is known to be well posed in $L^2$ when a it admits a microlocal symmetrizer $S(t,x, \xi)$ which is smooth in $\xi$ and Lipschitz continuous in $(t, x)$. This paper contains three main results. First we show that a Lipsshitz smoothness globally in $(t,x, \xi)$ is sufficient. Second, we show that the existence of symmetrizers with a given smoothness is equivalent to the existence of \emph{full symmetrizers} having the same smoothness. This notion was first introduced in \cite{FriLa1}. This is the key point to prove the third result that the existence of microlocal symmetrizer is preserved if one changes the direction of time, implying local uniqueness and finite speed of propagation.