On essential self-adjointness for first order differential operators on domains in [R.sup.d]

We consider general symmetric systems of first order linear partial differential operators on domains [OMEGA] [subset] [R.sup.d], and we seek sufficient conditions on the coefficients which ensure essential self-adjointness. The coefficients of the first order terms are only required to belong to [C.sup.1]([OMEGA]) and there is no ellipticity condition. Our criterion writes as the completeness of an associated Riemannian structure which encodes the propagation velocities of the system. As an application we obtain sufficient conditions for confinement of energy for certain wave propagation problems of classical physics. Mathematics Subject Classification (2010). Primary: 35F05, Secondary: 35Q70. Keywords. First order differential operators, essential self-adjointness.