Harnack inequality for nondivergent elliptic operators on Riemannian manifolds (Q1884535)

The paper deals with linear second-order elliptic operators of nondivergence form defined on Riemannian manifolds. A global Harnack inequality (of Krylov-Safonov type) for strong solutions of such equations has been already proved by \textit{X. Cabré} in [Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 50, No. 7, 623--665 (1997; Zbl 0878.58054)] assuming nonnegative sectional curvature of the underlying manifold. On the other hand, there is an old result by \textit{S.-T. Yau} [Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 28, 201--228 (1975; Zbl 0291.31002)] implying Harnack's principle for positive harmonic functions on Riemannian manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature. The paper improves Cabré's result and, as a consequence, proposes another proof to the Harnack principle of Yau. The technique relies on the nondivergent structure of the Laplace operator, and the sufficient conditions are expressed in terms of suitable distance functions on the underlying Riemannian manifold.