Progressive intrinsic ultracontractivity and heat kernel estimates for non-local Schrödinger operators (Q2186612)

Let \(L\) be the generator of a symmetric Lévy process in \({\mathbb R}^d\) with Lévy measure \(\nu(dx) = \nu(x)\,dx\) and \(V\) be a confining potential, i.e., \(\lim_{|x|\to\infty} V(x)=\infty\). The authors assume that \(V\in L^\infty_{loc}\left({\mathbb R}^d\right)\) and \(cg(|x|) \leq V \leq Cg(|x|)\) for some increasing function \(g\); the decreasing profile function \(f(|x|)\) controls \(\nu\) (i.e., \(cf(|x|) \leq \nu(x) \leq Cf(|x|)\)), where \(f\) has the following property \[\int\limits_{|x-y| > 1, |y|> 1} f(|x-y|) f(|y|)\,dy \leq C f(|x|), \quad |x| \geq 1.\] Denote by \(H = -L+V\) the Schrödinger operator in \(L^2\left({\mathbb R}^d, dx\right)\) with the ground-state eigenvalue \(\lambda_0\). Let \(u_t(x,y)\) be the density of the operator \(e^{-tH}\). The main results of the paper under review are the following two-sided estimates for large times. \par There exist constants \(C \geq 1\) and \(R\) such that \begin{itemize} \item If \(|x|, |y| \leq R\), then \[ \frac{1}{C} e^{-\lambda_0 t} \leq u_t(x,y) \leq C e^{-\lambda_0 t}.\] \item If \(|x| > R, |y| \leq R\) or \(|x| \leq R, |y| > R\), then \[ \frac{1}{C} e^{-\lambda_0 t} \frac{\nu(x)}{V(x)} \leq u_t(x,y) \leq C e^{-\lambda_0 t} \frac{\nu(x)}{V(x)};\] \item If \(|x|, |y| > R\), then \[\frac{1}{C}\frac{F(\mathsf{K}t,x,y) \vee e^{-\lambda_0 t} \nu(x) \nu(y)}{V(x) V(y)} \leq u_t(x,y) \leq C\frac{F\left(\frac{t}{\mathsf{K}},x,y\right)\vee e^{-\lambda_0 t}\nu(x) \nu(y)}{V(x) V(y)},\] where \(K\) is an explicit constant depending on \(g\) and \[ F(\tau,x,y) := \int_{R-1 < |z| < |x| \vee |y|} \left(f(|x-z|) \wedge 1\right) \left(f(|z-y|) \wedge 1\right) e^{- \tau g(|z|)}\,dz.\] \end{itemize} Another important result is the following {\textit progressively intrinsically ultracontractive} ({\textbf pIUC}) property: \[c e^{-\lambda_0 t} \varphi_0(x) \varphi_0(y) \leq u_t(x,y) \leq C e^{-\lambda_0 t} \varphi_0(x) \varphi_0(y), \quad |x| \wedge |y| < \rho(t), \;t \geq t_0, \] where \(\varphi_0 \in L^2\) is the ground state eigenfunction, \(t_0 > 0\), \(\rho\) is increasing function such that \(\rho(t) \to \infty\). {\textbf pIUC} is proved under additional assumption connecting the profile functions \(f,g\). \par As applications, the authors characterize the heat trace and heat content and discuss a wide range of examples including fractional (\(L=-\left(-\Delta\right)^{\alpha/2}, \alpha\in (0,2)\)) and quasi-relativistic (\(L=-\left(-\Delta+m^2\right)^{\alpha/2}+m\)) Schrödinger operators.