\(L^ p\) contractive projections and the heat semigroup for differential forms (Q1072198)

A projection operator that is contractive on \(L^ p\) for two distinct values of p is shown to be contractive for all values of p, and the range must be of a special form. This result is used to show that the heat semigroup for k-forms on many manifolds with nontrivial cohomology in dimension k cannot be contractive on any \(L^ p\) for \(p\neq 2\).