Bounds for contractive semigroups and second order systems

We derive a uniform bound for the difference of two contractive semigroups, if the difference of their generators is form-bounded by the Hermitian parts of the generators themselves. We construct a semigroup dynamics for second order systems with fairly general operator coefficients and apply our bound to the perturbation of the damping term. The result is illustrated on a dissipative wave equation. As a consequence the exponential decay of some second order systems is proved.