The entropy formula for linar heat equation (Q1431375)

The author derives an entropy formula for the heat equation on a general Riemannian manifold and proves that it is monotone non-increasing on manifolds with non-negative Ricci curvature. As an application, the relation between the value of entropy and the volume of balls of various scales is studied. The results are a simpler version, without Ricci flow, of Perelman's recent results on non-collapsing volume for Ricci flows on compact manifolds. It is proved also that the entropy for the heat kernel achieves its maximum value zero at some positive time, on any complete Riemannian manifold with non-negative Ricci curvature, if and only if the manifold is isometric to the Euclidean space.