Refined positivity theorem for semigroups generated by perturbed differential operators of second order with an application to Markov branching processes

Extract

The search for a result such as the one presented in this note was motivated by an application in the theory of Markov branching processes. The limiting behaviour of a Markov branching process is determined mainly by properties of the set of its first moments, usually given as a semigroup of non-negative, linear-bounded operators on a Banach space. The principal case is that in which these operators are in some sense primitive. If the underlying space is finite-dimensional, the case of primitivity is described to complete satisfaction by Perron's theorem. For more general spaces we have the well known extension of Perron's result by Kreĭn and Rutman (8). Unfortunately, the use of this extension in the theory of general branching processes has so far not led to limit theorems as strong as the best results known in the finite-dimensional case. At least for this specific purpose the classical Kreĭn-Rutman theorem seems to be too crude. In fact, already the simplest branching diffusions on bounded domains (3) suggest a more refined, though necessarily less general extension of Perron's theorem.