Maximum principle and convergence of fundamental solutions for the Ricci flow (Q981928)

The author considers the linear parabolic equation \(u_t=\Delta u + \vec{a}\cdot \nabla u + bu\), in \(M\times (0,T)\) where \(M\) is a non-compact manifold with a time depending complete Riemannian metric \(g(t)\), vector field \(\vec{a}(x,t)\), and function \(b(x,t)\), under the condition \[ \int_{0}^T\int_Mu^2_+(x,t)e^{-\lambda r_t(x_0,x)^2}dV_tdt<+\infty \] for some constant \(\lambda>0\), where \(r_t(x_o,x)\) is a distance w.r.t.\ \(g_t\). Assuming \(\vec{a}\) and \(b\) are uniformly bounded on \(M\times [0, T)\) and \(-\alpha_3 g\leq \frac{\partial }{\partial t}g\leq \alpha_3 g\) where \(\alpha_3>0\) is a constant, the author proves a maximum principle for a subsolution \(u\), namely that \(u\) is non-positive for all time \(t<T\) if it is non-positive for \(t=0\). Applying the maximum principle the author proves that the Green functions of the conjugate heat equation of the Ricci flow in bounded domains, with Neumann boundary condition, converge to the minimal fundamental solution, extending to \(n\geq 2\) the case \(n\geq 3\) proved by \textit{A.\ Chau, L. F. Tam} and \textit{C.\ Yu} [\url{arXiv:math/0701153}]. The proof relies in some arguments given in the later paper, but Chau, Tam and Yu use Green functions with Dirichlet boundary conditions. The case \(n=2\) is treated in a particular way by using as tool a suitable family of metric \(\tilde{g}_t\) on \(\tilde{M}=M\times S^2\) that satisfies a backward Ricci flow. Uniqueness of the fundamental solution of the conjugate heat equation is also obtained under a suitable exponential decay condition, by applying the volume comparison theorem, since uniform boundedness of the sectional curvatures is assumed. In the last section the author gives a detailed proof of the convergence of the fundamental solutions of the conjugate heat equation for a sequence of pointed Ricci flow used by G.\ Perelman (without proof) to prove the pseudolocality theorem [\url{arXiv:math/0211159}; Zbl 1130.53001]