Functional inequalities on manifolds with non-convex boundary (Q1788776)

Let \((\mathcal{M},g)\) be a complete connected Riemannian manifold \(\mathcal{M}\) with distance \(\rho\), boundary \(\partial\mathcal{M}\), inward unit normal vector \(N\), and second fundamental form \(\Pi\). Let \[ \mathcal{D} := \{ \phi\in C^2_b(\mathcal{M})\mid \inf\phi =1, \Pi+N\log\phi\geq 0\}, \] so that for \(\phi\in \mathcal{D}\), \(\partial\mathcal{M}\) becomes convex under the conform metric \(\phi^{-2} g\). Given a \(C^1\) vector field \(Z\) on \(\mathcal{M}\), consider a reflecting \((L\equiv \Delta+Z)\)-diffusion process \((X^x_t)\) started from \(x\), and its semi-group \((P_t)\). The drifted Ricci curvature is \(Ric^Z:= Ric -\nabla Z\). The authors consider the following new curvature condition \((CC_p)\) (indexed by \(p>1\)): \[ (CC_p)\text{ there exist }\phi\in \mathcal{D}\text{ and a constant }K_{\phi,p}\text{ such that } \] \[ Ric^Z + L\log\phi -p|\nabla\log\phi|^2\geq K_{\phi,p}. \] Using coupling methods, the authors establish the following theorems, which improve results by F.-Y. Wang: Theorem 1: Under \((CC_2)\), for any \(f\in C^1(\mathcal{M})\) that is constant outside a compact set, the gradient estimate \(|\nabla P_tf|\leq \|\phi\|_\infty \|\nabla f\|_\infty e^{-K_{\phi,2} t}\;\) holds for any \(t>0\). Theorem 2: Under \((CC_p)\), \(|\nabla P_tf|\leq \phi^{-1} \big(P_t(\phi|\nabla f|)^{p/(p-1)}\big)^{(p-1)/p} e^{-K_{\phi,p} t}\;\) holds for any \(f\in C^1_b(\mathcal{M})\) and \(t>0\). Theorem 3: Under \((CC_3)\), for any \(T>0, x,y\in\mathcal{M}, q>\|\phi\|_\infty^2\) and \(f\in C^1_b(\mathcal{M})\), the Harnack inequality \(\big(P_Tf(y)\big)^q\leq P_Tf^q(x)\exp\left[\frac{\sqrt{q}(\sqrt{q}-1)K_{\phi,3} \|\phi\|_\infty^2\rho^2(x,y) }{8\delta_q(\sqrt{q}-1-\delta_q)(e^{2K_{\phi,3}T}-1)}\right]\) holds (\(\delta_q\equiv \max\big\{\|\phi\|_\infty-1, \frac{\sqrt{q}-1}{2}\big\}\)). Theorem 4: Under \((CC_3)\), for any probability measures \(\mu,\nu\) on \(\mathcal{M}\) and \(t>0\), the transportation-cost inequality \(W_2(\mu P_t,\nu P_t)\leq \|\phi\|_\infty e^{-K_{\phi,3}t} W_2(\mu,\nu)\) holds. Theorem 5: Let \(\rho_\infty\) be the uniform distance on the path space \(C([0,T];\mathcal{M})\) and \(\Pi^T_\mu\) denote the law of \(X^\mu_{[0,T]}\). Then under \((CC_2)\), the path space-transportation-cost inequality \(W_2^{\rho_\infty}(\Pi^T_\mu,\Pi^T_\nu )\leq 2\|\phi\|_\infty e^{(K_{\phi,2}^-+\|\nabla\log\phi\|_\infty)T} W_2(\mu,\nu)\) holds for any probability measures \(\mu,\nu\) on \(\mathcal{M}\) and \(T>0\). Finally, under some regularity assumptions on \(\partial\mathcal{M}\), and provided \(\|Z\|\leq C, \mathrm{Sect} \leq C\), the authors propose a new construction of a function \(\phi\) satisfying \((CC_p)\).