Sharp two-sided heat kernel estimates of twisted tubes and applications (Q2453515)

The authors consider the twisted tube \[ \Omega = \{r_{\theta}(x_3)x; x = (x_, x_2, x_3) \in \omega \times \mathbb R\} \] where \(\omega \subset \mathbb R^2\) is an open bounded set and \(r_{\theta}(x_3)\) is in \(\mathbb R^3\) the rotation of angle \(\theta(x_3)\) in the plane \((x_1, x_2)\). It is classical that for the Dirichlet Laplacian \(-\Delta^D_{\Omega_0}\) on \(\Omega_0 = \omega \times \mathbb R\), the heat kernel \(e^{t(E_1+ \Delta^D_{\Omega_0})} (x,y)\) is equivalent to \(t^{-1/2}\) for large \(t\), where \(E_1\) is the principal eigenvalue of the Dirichlet Laplacian \(-\Delta^D_{\omega}\) on \(\omega\). Then the authors assume that the twisting parameter \(\theta\) is a \(C^2\) function with derivative having compact support; in this case the spectrum of \(-\Delta^D_{\Omega}\) coincides with the half line \([E_1, \infty)\), and the authors study the influence of twisting on the new kernel \(k(t,x,y) = e^{t(E_1+ \Delta^D_{\Omega})} (x,y)\), in particular for large times. In applications, it is known that twisting enhances heat transfer. This is what is proven here: in particular there exists a positive constant \(c\) such that \[ c^{-1} \frac{\mathrm{dist}(x, \partial \Omega)}{\sqrt{t}} \min \Big\{\frac{1+x_3^2}{t}, 1 \Big\} \leq k(t,x,x) \leq c \frac{\mathrm{dist}(x, \partial \Omega)}{\sqrt{t}} \min \Big\{\frac{1+x_3^2}{t}, 1 \Big\} \] for all \(x \in \Omega\) and \(t \geq 1\). Off-diagonal bounds are also derived, as well as extensions to other operators \(L\). It is observed that the behaviour of \(k(t,x,y)\) for small times is known and independent of twisting. The heat kernel bounds are obtained via weighted Nash inequalities and their equivalence with ultracontractivity properties.