Comparison results, exit time moments, and eigenvalues on Riemannian manifolds with a lower Ricci curvature bound (Q1711080)

Let \(\Omega\) be a smoothly bounded precompact domain in a complete Riemannian manifold \((M,g)\). Let \(X_t\) be the Brownian motion, let \(\mathbb{P}^x\) be the associated probability measure, and let \(\tau\) be the first exit time from \(\Omega\). The \(n^{th}\) torsional rigidity is defined by setting \(T_n(\Omega):=\int_\Omega\mathbb{E}^x(\tau^n)\text{dvol}_g\). The collection \(\{T_n(\Omega)\}_{n=1,2,\dots}\) is the \(L^1\) moment spectrum of \(\Omega\). The authors study the relationship between the geometry of \(\Omega\) and these invariants. They establish bounds for Dirichlet eigenvalues; if \(M\) is closed, they establish a comparison result for elements of the moment sequence using lower bounds on the Ricci curvature. The first section contains an introduction to the matter at hand. The second section deals with exit time moments, heat content, Ricci bounds and symmetrization. The third section deals with the moment spectrum on complete Riemannian manifolds and shows that the moment spectrum determines the heat content. The main results of the paper are established.