Weighted Nash inequalities (Q446418)

A universal weighted Nash inequality is established for symmetric diffusion processes on \(\mathbb R^n\). More precisely, let \(L=\Delta+\nabla\log\rho\) for some positive smooth function \(\rho\) on \(\mathbb R^n\), which is symmetric in \(L^2(\mu)\) for \(\mu( d x)= \rho(x) d x.\) Then there exists a constant \(C_n>0\) such that for any positive smooth function \(V\), the weighted Nash inequality \[ \mu(f^2)^{1+\frac 2 n}\leq C_n \mu(|fV|)^{\frac 4 n}\Big\{\mu(|\nabla f|^2) +\mu\Big(f^2\frac{LV}V\Big)\Big\},\;\;f\in C_0^1(\mathbb R^n) \] holds. If, in particular, \(V\) is bounded and \(LV\leq CV\) holds for some constant \(C>0\), it reduces to the usual Nash inequality. Combining this weighted Nash inequality with known techniques for applications of functional inequalities, pointwise heat kernel upper bounds are derived. This kind of heat kernel estimate generalizes intrinsic ultracontractivity, where the upper bound is uniformly subject to the ground state (first eigenfunction). The main results are illustrated by some specific examples, in particular for \(\rho(x)=\exp(-|x|^\alpha)\) for some \(\alpha>0\).