Remarks on differential Harnack inequalities

In this paper, we give a generalization of (global and local) differential Harnack inequalities for heat equations obtained by Li and Xu [J.F. Li, X.J. Xu, Differential Harnack inequalities on Riemannian manifolds I: linear heat equation, Adv. Math. 226 (5) (2011) 4456–4491] and Baudoin and Garofalo [F. Baudoin, N. Garofalo, Perelman’s entropy and doubling property on Riemannian manifolds, J. Geom. Anal. 21 (2011) 1119–1131]. From this we can derive new Harnack inequalities and new lower bounds for the associated heat kernel. Also we provide some new entropy formulas with monotonicity.     

Global positivity estimates and Harnack inequalities for the fast diffusion equation

We investigate local and global properties of positive solutions to the fast diffusion equation u_t=Δu^m in the range (d−2)₊/d<m<1, corresponding to general nonnegative initial data. For the Cauchy problem posed in the whole Euclidean space we prove sharp local positivity estimates (weak Harnack inequalities) and elliptic Harnack inequalities; we use them to derive sharp global positivity estimates and a global Harnack principle. For the mixed initial and boundary value problem posed in a bounded domain of with homogeneous Dirichlet condition, we prove weak and elliptic Harnack inequalities. Our work shows that these fast diffusion flows have regularity properties comparable and in some senses better than the linear heat flow.     

The Gagliardo-Nirenberg inequalities and manifolds of non-negative Ricci curvature

This article is devoted to show that complete non-compact Riemannian manifolds with non-negative Ricci curvature of dimension greater than or equal to two in which some Gagliardo-Nirenberg type inequality holds are not very far from the Euclidean space.     

Harnack inequalities for fuchsian type weighted elliptic equations

Harnack type inequalities for nonnegative (weak) solutions of degenerate elliptic equations, in divergence form, are established. The asymptotic behavior of solutions of Fuchsian type weighted elliptic operators is also investigated.     

Harnack estimate for curvature flows depending on mean curvature

The maximum principle is applied to prove the Harnack estimate of curvature flows of hypersurfaces in Rn＋1,where the normal velocity is given by a smooth function f depending only on the mean curvature.By use of the estimate,some corollaries are obtained including the integral Harnack inequality.In particular,the conditions are given with which the solution to the flows is a translation soliton or an expanding soliton.     

Differential Harnack estimates for backward heat equations with potentials under the Ricci flow

In this paper, we derive a general evolution formula for possible Harnack quantities. As a consequence, we prove several differential Harnack inequalities for positive solutions of backward heat-type equations with potentials (including the conjugate heat equation) under the Ricci flow. We shall also derive Perelman's Harnack inequality for the fundamental solution of the conjugate heat equation under the Ricci flow.     

Harnack inequalities and difference estimates for random walks with infinite range

Difference estimates and Harnack inequalities for mean zero, finite variance random walks with infinite range are considered. An example is given to show that such estimates and inequalities do not hold for all mean zero, finite variance random walks. Conditions are then given under which such results can be proved.Research supported by the National Science Foundation.     

Exact and asymptotic results on coarse Ricci curvature of graphs

Ricci curvature was proposed by Ollivier in a general framework of metric measure spaces, and it has been studied extensively in the context of graphs in recent years. In this paper we obtain the exact formulas for Ollivier’s Ricci-curvature for bipartite graphs and for the graphs with girth at least 5. These are the first formulas for Ricci-curvature that hold for a wide class of graphs, and extend earlier results where the Ricci-curvature for graphs with girth 6 was obtained. We also prove a general lower bound on the Ricci-curvature in terms of the size of the maximum matching in an appropriate subgraph. As a consequence, we characterize the Ricci-flat graphs of girth 5. Moreover, using our general lower bound and the Birkhoff–von Neumann theorem, we give the first necessary and sufficient condition for the structure of Ricci-flat regular graphs of girth 4. Finally, we obtain the asymptotic Ricci-curvature of random bipartite graphs G(n,n,p)$G(n,n,p)$ and random graphs G(n,p)$G(n,p)$, in various regimes of p$p$.     

The Harnack estimate for a nonlinear parabolic equation under the Ricci flow

Let (M,g(t)), 0 ≤ t ≤ T, be an n-dimensional closed manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature, |Rc| ≤ C/t for some constant C > 0 and g(t) evolving by the Ricci flow

Harnack inequalities for SDEs driven by subordinate Brownian motions

By using regularization approximations of the underlying subordinator and a gradient estimate approach, the dimension-independent Harnack inequalities are established for the inhomogeneous semigroup associated with a class of SDEs with Lévy noise containing a subordinate Brownian motion. Our estimates in Harnack type inequalities improve the corresponding ones in the recent paper by Wang and Wang (2014) [10].     

Harnack inequalities for stochastic equations driven by Lévy noise

By using coupling argument and regularization approximations of the underlying subordinator, dimension-free Harnack inequalities are established for a class of stochastic equations driven by a Lévy noise containing a subordinate Brownian motion. The Harnack inequalities are new even for linear equations driven by Lévy noise, and the gradient estimate implied by our log-Harnack inequality considerably generalizes some recent results on gradient estimates and coupling properties derived for Lévy processes or linear equations driven by Lévy noise. The main results are also extended to semilinear stochastic equations in Hilbert spaces.     

Harnack inequality and exponential separation for oblique derivative problems on Lipschitz domains

We consider the oblique derivative problem for linear nonautonomous second order parabolic equations with bounded measurable coefficients on bounded Lipschitz cylinders. We derive an optimal elliptic-type Harnack inequality for positive solutions of this problem and use it to show that each positive solution exponentially dominates any solution which changes sign for all times. We show several nontrivial applications of both the exponential estimate and the derived Harnack inequality.     

Space-time formulation of Harnack inequalities for curvature flows of hypersurfaces

We consider the motion of hypersurfaces in Riemannian manifolds by their curvature vectors. We show that the Harnack quadratic is an affine second fundamental form of the space-time track of the hypersurface. Given a solution to the Ricci flow, we show that with respect to an appropriate metric on space-time, the space-slices evolve by mean curvature flow. This enables us to identify the Harnack quadratic for the mean curvature flow with the trace Harnack quadratic for the Ricci flow.     

Equivalent Harnack and gradient inequalities for pointwise curvature lower bound

By using a coupling method, an explicit log-Harnack inequality with local geometry quantities is established for (sub-Markovian) diffusion semigroups on a Riemannian manifold (possibly with boundary). This inequality as well as the consequent L²$L^2$-gradient inequality, are proved to be equivalent to the pointwise curvature lower bound condition together with the convexity or absence of the boundary. Some applications of the log-Harnack inequality are also introduced.     

Singular stochastic equations on Hilbert spaces: Harnack inequalities for their transition semigroups

We consider stochastic equations in Hilbert spaces with singular drift in the framework of [G. Da Prato, M. Röckner, Singular dissipative stochastic equations in Hilbert spaces, Probab. Theory Related Fields 124 (2) (2002) 261-303]. We prove a Harnack inequality (in the sense of [F.-Y. Wang, Logarithmic Sobolev inequalities on noncompact Riemannian manifolds, Probab. Theory Related Fields 109 (1997) 417-424]) for its transition semigroup and exploit its consequences. In particular, we prove regularizing and ultraboundedness properties of the transition semigroup as well as that the corresponding Kolmogorov operator has at most one infinitesimally invariant measure μ (satisfying some mild integrability conditions). Finally, we prove existence of such a measure μ for noncontinuous drifts.     

Uniform boundary Harnack principle and generalized triangle property

Let D be a bounded open subset in R^d, d?2, and let G denote the Green function for D with respect to (-Δ)^α/2, 0<α?2, α<d. If α<2, assume that D satisfies the interior corkscrew condition; if α=2, i.e., if G is the classical Green function on D, assume—more restrictively—that D is a uniform domain. Let g=G(·,y₀)∧1 for some y₀∈D. Based on the uniform boundary Harnack principle, it is shown that G has the generalized triangle property which states that when d(z,x)?d(z,y). An intermediate step is the approximation G(x,y)≈|x-y|^α-dg(x)g(y)/g(A)², where A is an arbitrary point in a certain set B(x,y).This is discussed in a general setting where D is a dense open subset of a compact metric space satisfying the interior corkscrew condition and G is a quasi-symmetric positive numerical function on D×D which has locally polynomial decay and satisfies Harnack's inequality. Under these assumptions, the uniform boundary Harnack principle, the approximation for G, and the generalized triangle property turn out to be equivalent.     

Improved Gagliardo-Nirenberg-Sobolev inequalities on manifolds with positive curvature

We apply the method of [J. Demange, From porous media equation to generalized Sobolev inequalities on a Riemannian manifold, preprint, http://www.lsp.ups-tlse.fr/Fp/Demange/, 2004] and [J. Demange, Porous Media equation and Sobolev inequalities under negative curvature, preprint, http://www.lsp.ups-tlse.fr/Fp/Demange/, 2004], based on the curvature-dimension criterion and the study of Porous Media equation, to the case of a manifold M with strictly positive Ricci curvature. This gives a new way to prove classical Sobolev inequalities on M. Moreover, this enables to improve non-critical Sobolev inequalities as well. As an application, we study the rate of convergence of the solutions of the Porous Media equation to the equilibrium.     

Uniqueness result for non-negative solutions of semi-linear inequalities on Riemannian manifolds

We consider certain semi-linear partial differential inequalities on complete connected Riemannian manifolds and provide a simple condition in terms of volume growth for the uniqueness of a non-negative solution. We also show the sharpness of this condition.     

Absence of Critical Mass Densities for a Vibrating Membrane

We study the dependence of the eigenvalues of a N-dimensional vibrating membrane upon variation of the mass density. We prove that the elementary symmetric functions of the eigenvalues depend real-analytically on the mass density and that such functions have no critical points with constant mass constraint. In particular, the elementary symmetric functions of the eigenvalues, hence all simple eigenvalues, have no local maxima or minima on the set of those mass densities with a prescribed total mass.