Critical time for the observability of Kolmogorov-type equations

This paper is devoted to the observability of a class of two-dimensional Kolmogorov-type equations presenting a quadratic degeneracy. We give lower and upper bounds for the critical time. These bounds coincide in symmetric settings, giving a sharp result in these cases. The proof is based on Carleman estimates and on the spectral properties of a family of non-selfadjoint Schrodinger operators, in particular the localization of the first eigenvalue and Agmon type estimates for the corresponding eigenfunctions.