On the perturbation of positive semigroups (Q2634955)

Motivated by an application to heat kernel estimates, the authors prove a domination theorem for perturbations of positive operator semigroups on \(L^2\)-spaces. For the sake of simplicity, let us discuss the main result of the paper here only over finite measure spaces, although the paper deals with the more general \(\sigma\)-finite case. Let \((\Omega,\mu)\) be a finite measure space and let \(T_0\) and \(T\) be two positive \(C_0\)-semigroups on \(L^2(\Omega,\mu)\) with generators \(A_0\) and \(A\), respectively; for what follows, it is convenient to think of \(A\) as a perturbation of \(A_0\). The authors consider the question whether the estimate \(T(t) \leq T_0(t) + tc \; {1}_\Omega \otimes {1}_\Omega\) holds for all \(t \geq 0\) and a constant \(c \in \mathbb{R}\). The main result of the paper asserts that the validity of this estimate can be characterised by a condition on the semigroup generators or, alternatively, by a condition on the resolvent of the generators. As a consequence of their perturbation theorem, the authors obtain heat kernel estimates which generalise results from [\textit{M.\,T.\thinspace Barlow} et al., J.~Reine Angew.\ Math.\ 626, 135--157 (2009; Zbl 1158.60039)].