Heat kernel expansions in vector bundles

Let M be a complete connected smooth (compact) Riemannian manifold of dimension n. Let Π:V→M be a smooth vector bundle over M. Let be a second order differential operator on M, where Δ is a Laplace-Type operator on the sections of the vector bundle V and b a smooth vector field on M. Let k_t(−,−) be the heat kernel of V relative to L. In this paper we will derive an exact and an asymptotic expansion for k_t(x,y₀) where y₀ is the center of normal coordinates defined on M, x is a point in the normal neighborhood centered at y₀. The leading coefficients of the expansion are then computed at x=y₀ in terms of the linear and quadratic Riemannian curvature invariants of the Riemannian manifold M, of the vector bundle V, and of the vector bundle section ? and its derivatives.We end by comparing our results with those of previous authors (I. Avramidi, P. Gilkey, and McKean-Singer).     

Heat Content Asymptotics with Inhomogeneous Neumann and Dirichlet Boundary Conditions

Let M be a compact manifold with smooth boundary. We establish the existence of an asymptotic expansion for the heat content asymptotics of M with inhomogeneous Neumann and Dirichlet boundary conditions. We prove all the coefficients are locally determined and determine the first several terms in the asymptotic expansion.     

A Laplace integral on a Kähler manifold and Calabi's diastasis function

In this paper we give a different proof of Engliš's result [J. Reine Angew. Math. 528 (2000) 1-39] about the asymptotic expansion of a Laplace integral on a real analytic Kähler manifold (M,g) by using the link between the metric g and the associated Calabi's diastasis function D. We also make explicit the connection between the coefficients of Engliš' expansion and Gray's invariants [Michigan Math. J. (1973) 329-344].     

Heat Content of a Riemannian Manifold with a Perfect Conducting Boundary

Let M be a compact smooth Riemannian manifold with smooth boundary. We establish the existence of an asymptotic series for the heat content of M with a perfect conducting boundary and show that the coefficients in the series are non-local invariants which are recursively determined by the coefficients for the series with corresponding zero Dirichlet boundary condition.     

Inverse problems and index formulae for Dirac operators

We consider a Dirac-type operator DP on a vector bundle V over a compact Riemannian manifold (M,g) with a non-empty boundary. The operator DP is specified by a boundary condition P(u_|∂M)=0 where P is a projector which may be a non-local, i.e., a pseudodifferential operator. We assume the existence of a chirality operator which decomposes L²(M,V) into two orthogonal subspaces X₊⊕X₋. Under certain conditions, the operator DP restricted to X₊ and X₋ defines a pair of Fredholm operators which maps X₊→X₋ and X₋→X₊ correspondingly, giving rise to a superstructure on V. In this paper we consider the questions of determining the index of DP and the reconstruction of and DP from the boundary data on ∂M. The data used is either the Cauchy data, i.e., the restrictions to ∂M×R₊ of the solutions to the hyperbolic Dirac equation, or the boundary spectral data, i.e., the set of the eigenvalues and the boundary values of the eigenfunctions of DP. We obtain formulae for the index and prove uniqueness results for the inverse boundary value problems. We apply the obtained results to the classical Dirac-type operator in M×C⁴, M⊂R³.     

Self-similarity and spectral asymptotics for the continuum random tree

We use the random self-similarity of the continuum random tree to show that it is homeomorphic to a post-critically finite self-similar fractal equipped with a random self-similar metric. As an application, we determine the mean and almost-sure leading order behaviour of the high frequency asymptotics of the eigenvalue counting function associated with the natural Dirichlet form on the continuum random tree. We also obtain short time asymptotics for the trace of the heat semigroup and the annealed on-diagonal heat kernel associated with this Dirichlet form.     

Orbifold genera, product formulas and power operations

We generalize the definition of orbifold elliptic genus and introduce orbifold genera of chromatic level h, using h-tuples rather than pairs of commuting elements. We show that our genera are in fact orbifold invariants, and we prove integrality results for them. If the genus arises from an H_∞-map into the Morava-Lubin-Tate theory E_h, then we give a formula expressing the orbifold genus of the symmetric powers of a stably almost complex manifold M in terms of the genus of M itself. Our formula is the p-typical analogue of the Dijkgraaf-Moore-Verlinde-Verlinde formula for the orbifold elliptic genus [R. Dijkgraaf et al., Elliptic genera of symmetric products and second quantized strings Comm. Math. Phys. 185(1) (1997) 197-209]. It depends only on h and not on the genus.     

Asymptotics of the porous media equation via Sobolev inequalities

Let M be a compact Riemannian manifold without boundary. Consider the porous media equation , u(0)=u₀∈L^q, ? being the Laplace-Beltrami operator. Then, if q?2∨(m-1), the associated evolution is L^q-L^∞ regularizing at any time t>0 and the bound ‖u(t)‖_∞?C(u₀)/t^β holds for t<1 for suitable explicit C(u₀),γ. For large t it is shown that, for general initial data, u(t) approaches its time-independent mean with quantitative bounds on the rate of convergence. Similar bounds are valid when the manifold is not compact, but u(t) approaches u≡0 with different asymptotics. The case of manifolds with boundary and homogeneous Dirichlet, or Neumann, boundary conditions, is treated as well. The proof stems from a new connection between logarithmic Sobolev inequalities and the contractivity properties of the nonlinear evolutions considered, and is therefore applicable to a more abstract setting.     

Generalized Dirichlet to Neumann operator on invariant differential forms and equivariant cohomology

In recent work, Belishev and Sharafutdinov show that the generalized Dirichlet to Neumann (DN) operator Λ on a compact Riemannian manifold M with boundary ∂M determines de Rham cohomology groups of M. In this paper, we suppose G is a torus acting by isometries on M. Given X in the Lie algebra of G and the corresponding vector field XM on M, Witten defines an inhomogeneous coboundary operator dXM=d+ιXM on invariant forms on M. The main purpose is to adapt Belishev-Sharafutdinov?s boundary data to invariant forms in terms of the operator dXM in order to investigate to what extent the equivariant topology of a manifold is determined by the corresponding variant of the DN map. We define an operator ΛXM on invariant forms on the boundary which we call the XM-DN map and using this we recover the XM-cohomology groups from the generalized boundary data (∂M,ΛXM). This shows that for a Zariski-open subset of the Lie algebra, ΛXM determines the free part of the relative and absolute equivariant cohomology groups of M. In addition, we partially determine the ring structure of XM-cohomology groups from ΛXM. These results explain to what extent the equivariant topology of the manifold in question is determined by ΛXM.     

Estimates for eigenvalues on Riemannian manifolds

In this paper, we investigate eigenvalues of the Dirichlet eigenvalue problem of Laplacian on a bounded domain Ω in an n-dimensional complete Riemannian manifold M. When M is an n-dimensional Euclidean space Rn, the conjecture of Pólya is well known: the kth eigenvalue λk of the Dirichlet eigenvalue problem of Laplacian satisfies

     

Diffusions on graphs, Poisson problems and spectral geometry

We study diffusions, variational principles and associated boundary value problems on directed graphs with natural weightings. We associate to certain subgraphs (domains) a pair of sequences, each of which is invariant under the action of the automorphism group of the underlying graph. We prove that these invariants differ by an explicit combinatorial factor given by Stirling numbers of the first and second kind. We prove that for any domain with a natural weighting, these invariants determine the eigenvalues of the Laplace operator corresponding to eigenvectors with nonzero mean. As a specific example, we investigate the relationship between our invariants and heat content asymptotics, expressing both as special values of an analog of a spectral zeta function.

     

On holomorphic families of Schrödinger-type operators with singular potentials on manifolds of bounded geometry

We consider a family of Schrödinger-type differential expressions L(κ)=D²+V+κV(1), where κ∈C, and D is the Dirac operator associated with a Clifford bundle (E,∇E) of bounded geometry over a manifold of bounded geometry (M,g) with metric g, and V and V(1) are self-adjoint locally integrable sections of EndE. We also consider the family I(κ)=^*(∇F)∇F+V+κV(1), where κ∈C, and ∇F is a Hermitian connection on a Hermitian vector bundle F of bonded geometry over a manifold of bounded geometry (M,g), and V and V(1) are self-adjoint locally integrable sections of EndF. We give sufficient conditions for L(κ) and I(κ) to have a realization in L²(E) and L²(F), respectively, as self-adjoint holomorphic families of type (B). In the proofs we use Kato's inequality for Bochner Laplacian operator and Weitzenböck formula.     

Local index theory over foliation groupoids

We give a local proof of an index theorem for a Dirac-type operator that is invariant with respect to the action of a foliation groupoid G. If M denotes the space of units of G then the input is a G-equivariant fiber bundle P→M along with a G-invariant fiberwise Dirac-type operator D on P. The index theorem is a formula for the pairing of the index of D, as an element of a certain K-theory group, with a closed graded trace on a certain noncommutative de Rham algebra Ω^*B associated to G. The proof is by means of superconnections in the framework of noncommutative geometry.     

Integral representations of nonnegative solutions for parabolic equations and elliptic Martin boundaries

We consider nonnegative solutions of a parabolic equation in a cylinder D×(0,T), where D is a noncompact domain of a Riemannian manifold. Under the assumption [IU] (i.e., the associated heat kernel is intrinsically ultracontractive), we establish an integral representation theorem: any nonnegative solution is represented uniquely by an integral on (D×{0})∪(M_∂D×[0,T)), where M_∂D is the Martin boundary of D for the associated elliptic operator. We apply it in a unified way to several concrete examples to explicitly represent nonnegative solutions. We also show that [IU] implies the condition [SP] (i.e., the constant function 1 is a small perturbation of the elliptic operator on D).     

On the spectrum of the Laplace-Beltrami operator for p-forms for a class of warped product metrics

We explicitly compute the essential spectrum of the Laplace-Beltrami operator for p-forms for the class of warped product metrics , where y is a boundary defining function on a compact manifold with boundary M.     

Parabolicity and stochastic completeness of manifolds in terms of the Green formula

We present and prove new characterizations of parabolicity and stochastic completeness for a general weighted manifold M as well as the uniqueness of the Markov extensions of the Laplacian in terms of Green?s formula. Moreover, we study the relationship between those properties and the singularity of M in terms of a fractal dimension and capacity.     

Harmonic cohomology of symplectic manifolds

Mathieu (Math. Helv. 70 (1995) 1) introduced a canonic filtration in the de Rham cohomology of a symplectic manifold and proved, that the middle filtration space is the space of harmonic cohomology classes. We give an interpretation of the other filtration spaces, prove a Künneth theorem for harmonic cohomology, prove Poincaré duality for harmonic cohomology and show how surjectivity of certain Lefschetz type mappings is related to properties of the filtration. For a closed symplectic manifold M we also introduce symplectic invariants , and show if M is of dimension 2n with n even.     

Linearized inverse problem for the Dirichlet-to-Neumann map on differential forms

For a compact n-dimensional Riemannian manifold (M,g) with boundary i:∂M⊂M, the Dirichlet-to-Neumann (DN) map Λg:Ωk(∂M)→Ωn−k−1(∂M) is defined on exterior differential forms by Λgφ=i^∗(?dω), where ω solves the boundary value problem Δω=0, i^∗ω=φ, i^∗δω=0. For a symmetric second rank tensor field h on M, let be the Gateaux derivative of the DN map in the direction h. We study the question: for a given (M,g), how large is the subspace of tensor fields h satisfying ? Potential tensor fields belong to the subspace since the DN map is invariant under isomeries fixing the boundary. For a manifold of an even dimension n, the DN map on (n/2−1)-forms is conformally invariant, therefore spherical tensor fields belong to the subspace in the case of k=n/2−1. The manifold is said to be Ωk-rigid if there is no other h satisfying . We prove that the Ωk-rigidity is equivalent to the density of the range of some bilinear form on the space of exact harmonic fields.     

Sign-changing and constant-sign solutions for p-Laplacian problems with jumping nonlinearities

By variational methods, we prove the existence of a sign-changing solution for the p-Laplacian equation under Dirichlet boundary condition with jumping nonlinearity having relation to the Fu?ík spectrum of p-Laplacian. We also provide the multiple existence results for the p-Laplacian problems.