The Li-Yau inequality and applications under a curvature-dimension condition (Q1687869)

In this paper the authors prove a generalization of the Li-Yau inequality for general Markov semigroups under a certain dimension-curvature condition on the underlying Riemannian manifold. Recall that the classical Li-Yau inequality states that if \((t,x)\mapsto P_tf\) is the solution of the heat equation \(\partial_tu=\Delta u\) with \(t=0\) initial condition \(f:M\rightarrow{\mathbb R}_+\) being any positive function on a Riemannian manifold \((M,g)\) of dimension \(n\) and non-negative Ricci curvature, then for any \(t>0\) an estimate \[ -\Delta (\log P_tf)\leqq\frac{n}{2t} \] holds. In the case of the heat kernel semigroup the authors' new inequality is stronger than all known (including the original one as well) generalizations of the classical Li-Yau inequality. Some applications are also presented: ultraconcative bounds in the positive curvature case as well as new Harnack-type inequalities (which are equivalent to the new Li-Yau inequality of the authors). In the final section the authors work out in detail how precisely their new inequality is stronger than the known generalizations of the classical Li-Yau inequality.