Matrix Li-Yau-Hamilton estimates for the heat equation on Kähler manifolds (Q1772093)

In their paper [Acta Math., 156, 154--201 (1986; Zbl 0611.58045)], \textit{P. Li} and \textit{S. T. Yau} developed a gradient estimate for positive solutions of the heat equation on Riemannian manifolds. This was later extended by \textit{R. S. Hamilton} [Commun. Anal. Geom. 1, 113--126 (1993; Zbl 0799.53048)] to a matrix version, under the additional assumption of nonnegative sectional and parallel Ricci curvature. In this paper the authors derive a complex analog of the Li-Yau-Hamilton matrix estimate. They prove a Hessian estimate for positive solutions of the heat equation on complete Kähler manifolds with nonnegative holomorphic bisectional curvature. An application is a complex Hessian comparison theorem for the distance function. They further prove a matrix estimate for a positive potential function of the Ricci tensor with metric evolving by Kähler-Ricci flow on a non-compact complex manifold with nonnegative holomorphic bisectional curvature. A trace gradient estimate holds for positive potential functions on compact Kähler manifolds without any assumptions on the sign of the curvature tensor. The proofs rely on Hamilton's tensor maximum principle, using Li and Yau's estimate together with techniques of Ni and Tam in the complete, non-compact case. See also \textit{L. Ni's} [``A matrix Li-Yau-Hamilton estimate for Kähler-Ricci flow'', to appear] for a related new matrix Li-Yau-Hamilton inequality for Kähler-Ricci flow and applications.