Gradient estimates for some \(f\)-heat equations driven by Lichnerowicz's equation on complete smooth metric measure spaces (Q1702677)

Let \((M,g,e^{-f}dv)\) be a complete, smooth metric measure space with Bakry-Émery Ricci curvature bounded from below. The authors obtain gradient estimates for bounded solutions to general \(f\)-heat equations of the type \[ u_t=\Delta _f u+au\log u+bu +Au^p+Bu^{-q} \] and \[ u_t=\Delta _f u+Ae^{pu}+Be^{-pu}+D. \] The machinery of deriving the gradient estimates is quite standard and consists of obtaining first a lower bound for the heat operator acting on suitable functions in term of the heat solution, and then using appropriate cut-off functions and the maximum principle to get the desired results. As consequence, the authors derive Liouville-type theorems and Harnack-type inequalities for positive solutions of several nonlinear equations including the Schrödinger equation, the Yamabe equation, and Lichnerowicz-type equations as special cases.