Abstract
In this article we prove the existence of a fundamental solution for the linear parabolic operator L(u) = (Δ − ∂/∂t − h)u, on a compact n-dimensional manifold M with a time-parameterized family of smooth Riemannian metrics g(t). Δ is the time-dependent Laplacian based on g(t), and h(x, t) is smooth. Uniqueness, positivity, the adjoint property, and the semigroup property hold. We further derive a Harnack inequality for positive solutions of L(u) = 0 on (M, g(t) on a time interval depending on curvature bounds and the dimension of M, and in the special case of Ricci flow, use it to find lower bounds on the fundamental solution of the heat operator in terms of geometric data and an explicit Euclidean type heat kernel.
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Communicated by Peter Li
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Guenther, C.M. The fundamental solution on manifolds with time-dependent metrics. J Geom Anal 12, 425–436 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02922048
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02922048