Noncommutative potential theory and the sign of the curvature operator in Riemannian geometry (Q1403365)

The authors study the Dirac Laplacian \(D^2\) on a complete Riemannian manifold \(M\), without boundary, in connection with properties of the associated heat semigroup \(e^{-tD^2}\) and the Dirac-Dirichlet quadratic form \({\mathcal{E}}_D\). The main result is the equivalence of the following properties: (a) The curvature operator is nonnegative; (b) The Dirac Laplacian \(D^2\) generates a \(C^*\)-Markovian semigroup (i.e., a strongly continuous, completely positive, contraction semigroup) on the Clifford \(C^*\)-algebra of \(M\); (c) The quadratic form \({\mathcal{E}}_D\) of \(D^2\) is a \(C^*\)-Dirichlet form.