Global solvability and propagation of regularity of sums of squares on compact manifolds

Abstract: We investigate global solvability, in the framework of smooth functions and Schwartz distributions, of certain sums of squares of vector fields defined on a product of compact Riemannian manifolds $T \times G$, where $G$ is further assumed to be a Lie group. As in a recent article due to the authors, our analysis is carried out in terms of a system of left-invariant vector fields on $G$ naturally associated with the operator under study, a simpler object which nevertheless conveys enough information about the original operator so as to fully encode its solvability. As a welcome side effect of the tools developed for our main purpose, we easily prove a general result on propagation of regularity for such operators.