Characterization of eigenfunctions of the Laplace-Beltrami operator through heat propagation in small time (Q779993)

Let \(X\) be a Riemann manifold and \(\Delta\) the positive Laplace-Beltrami operator on \(X\). \(e^{-t\Delta}\) denotes the heat propagator. \(\Delta f=cf\) always implies \(e^{-t\Delta}f=e^{-tc}f \forall t>0 \). In this note the authors endeavour is to explore the converse of this. They show: For \(n\geq 2\) and \( p > \frac{2n}{n-1}\), if \(f \in L^p (\mathbb R^n)\) satisfies \( e^{-t\Delta_{\mathbb R^n}} f = e^{-tc} f \) for some \(c > 0, t > 0\), then \(\Delta_\mathbb R^n f = cf \). If \(f \in L^\infty (\mathbb R^n)\) satisfies \( e^{-t\Delta_{\mathbb R^n}} f = e^{-tc} f \) for some \(c \geq 0, t > 0\), then \(\Delta_\mathbb R^n f = cf \). For a rank one Riemannian symmetric space of noncompact type \(X\) the situation is different. The authors show that the answer to such a question is affirmative only if \(t\) is within a sharp range \(0 < t < T \), where the critical time \(T \) depends on the proposed eigenvalue \(c\) and the integrability of the eigenfunction (or temperedness of the eigendistribution). In fact, \(f \in L^p(X)\) in the above discussion can be replaced by appropriately tempered distributions. It appears that the tempered distributions are ideal objects in this setup as they are less restrictive.