In the present book the conditions are studied for the semi-boundedness
of partial differential operators which is interpreted in different
ways. Nowadays one knows rather much about L2-semibounded
differential and pseudo-differential operators, although their complete
characterization in analytic terms causes difficulties even for rather
simple operators. Until recently almost nothing was known about analytic
characterizations of semi-boundedness for differential operators in
other Hilbert function spaces and in Banach function spaces. The goal of
the present book is to partially fill this gap. Various types of
semi-boundedness are considered and some relevant conditions which are
either necessary and sufficient or best possible in a certain sense are
given. Most of the results reported in this book are due to the authors.