Classification of classical Friedrichs differential operators: One-dimensional scalar case

Abstract: The theory of abstract Friedrichs operators, introduced by Ern, Guermond and Caplain (2007), proved to be a successful setting for studying positive symmetric systems of first order partial differential equations (Friedrichs, 1958), nowadays better known as Friedrichs systems. Recently, Antoni\'c, Michelangeli and Erceg (2017) presented a purely operator-theoretic description of abstract Friedrichs operators, allowing for application of the universal operator extension theory (Grubb, 1968). In this paper we make a further theoretical step by developing a decomposition of the graph space (maximal domain) as a direct sum of the minimal domain and the kernels of corresponding adjoints. We then study one-dimensional scalar (classical) Friedrichs operators with variable coefficients and present a complete classification of admissible boundary conditions.