The fundamental solution on manifolds with time-dependent metrics (Q1608536)

The author studies the existence of a fundamental solution for the linear parabolic operator \(L(u)=(\Delta -\partial/\partial t -h)u\) on a compact \(n\)-dimensional manifold \(M\) with a time-parameterized family of smooth Riemannian metrics \(g(t).\) The operator \(\Delta\) is a time-dependent Laplacian based on \(g(t),\) and \(h(x,t)\) is smooth. Uniqueness, positivity, the adjoint property, and the semigroup property hold. She derives 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 \(M.\) Further, in the special case of Ricci flow she finds lower bounds on the fundamental solution of the heat operator in terms of geometric data and an explicit Euclidean type heat kernel.