Uniform conditional ergodicity and intrinsic ultracontractivity (Q983728)

The authors investigate the relationship between uniform conditional ergodicity and intrinsic ultracontractivity of semigroups of sub-Markov kernels. A crucial role is played by the condition of compact domination: For some \(s> 0\), there exists a compact subset \(K_s\) of the state-space \(E\) and some constant \(\alpha_s> 0\) such that \(P_s(x,E)\leq\alpha_s P(x,K_s)\) for all \(x\in E\). (If this condition is satisfied for one \(s\), it is automatically satisfied for all \(t\geq s\).) Under the assumption of suitable conditions on a ground state and the transition density, compact domination is shown to be sufficient for uniform conditional ergodicity, as well as necessary and sufficient for intrinsic ultracontractivity, thus relating it to the parabolic boundary Harnack principle. The authors provide some criteria and comparability results useful for verifying compact domination in particular cases, and they give an example in which all their assumptions on a ground state and the transition density are satisfied, but compact domination does not hold.