A note on Ricci flow and optimal transportation

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Abstract: In this note, we describe a new link between Perelman's monotonicity formula for the reduced volume and ideas from optimal transport theory.


This paper deals with an extension of the following classical interpolation inequality due to \textit{A.~Prekopa} [Acta Sci. Math. 32, 301--316 (1971; Zbl 0235.90044)] and \textit{L.~Leindler} [Proc. Conf. Oberwolfach 1971, ISNM 20, 182--184 (1972; Zbl 0256.26015)]. Theorem 1. Fix a real number \(0<\lambda<1\). Let \(u_1\), \(u_2\), \(v:\mathbb R^n\to \mathbb R\) be nonnegative measurable functions satisfying \[ v(\, (1-\lambda)x+\lambda y\,) \geq u_1(x)^{1-\lambda} u_2(y)^\lambda \] for all points \(x, y\in\mathbb R^n\). Then \[ \int_{{\mathbb{R}}^n}v \geq \left(\int_{{\mathbb{R}}^n}u_1\right)^{1-\lambda} \left(\int_{{\mathbb{R}}^n}u_2\right)^\lambda. \] Some generalizations in the context of Riemannian geometry were obtained in [\textit{D.~Cordero-Erausquin, R.~McCann} and \textit{M.~Schmuckenschläger}, Invent. Math. 146, No.~2, 219--257 (2001; Zbl 1026.58018); Ann. Fac. Sci. Toulouse, Math. (6) 15, No.~4, 613--635 (2006; Zbl 1125.58007)]. The aim of the paper is to obtain other generalizations of the interpolation inequality replacing the Riemannian distance by the \(\mathcal L\)-distance of Perelman. Namely, let \(M\) be a compact \(n\)-dimensional manifold, and let \(g(t)\), \(t\in [0,T]\) be a one-parameter family of metrics on \(M\), which evolve by the backward Ricci flow, i.e. \(\frac{\partial g(t)}{\partial t} = 2 \text{Ric}_{g(t)}\). The \(\mathcal{L}\)-length of a path \(\gamma: [\tau_1,\tau_2]\to M\) is defined by \[ {\mathcal L}(\gamma) = \int_{\tau_1}{\tau_2} \sqrt{t}\,\left( R_{g(t)}(\gamma(t))+|\gamma^\prime(t)|^2_{g(t)}\right) dt,\tag{*} \] where \(R_{g(t)}\) stands for the scalar curvature of \(g(t)\). The corresponding \(\mathcal{L}\)-distance is defined by \[ Q(x,\tau_1; y,\tau_2) = \inf\left\{{\mathcal L}(\gamma)| \gamma: [\tau_1,\tau_2]\to M, \gamma(\tau_1)=x, \gamma(\tau_2)=y \right\}.\tag{*} \] The main results of the paper is the following extension of the interpolation inequality in the setting of Ricci flow and \(\mathcal{L}\)-distance. Theorem 2. Fix real numbers \(\tau_1\), \(\tau_2\), \(\tau\) such that \(0<\tau_1<\tau<\tau_2<T\). Write \(\frac{1}{\sqrt{\tau}}=\frac{1-\lambda}{\sqrt{\tau_1}}+\frac{\lambda}{\sqrt{\tau_2}}\), where \(0<\lambda<1\). Let \(u_1\), \(u_2\), \(v: M\to\mathbb R\) be nonnegative measurable functions such that \[ \left(\frac{\tau}{\tau_1^{1-\lambda}\tau_2^\lambda}\right)^{n/2}v(\, \gamma(\tau)\,) \geq \exp\left(-\frac{1-\lambda}{2\sqrt{\tau_1}}Q(\gamma(\tau_1),\tau_1; \gamma(\tau),\tau)\right) u_1(\gamma(\tau_1))^{1-\lambda} \] \[ \cdot \exp\left(\frac{\lambda}{2\sqrt{\tau_2}}Q(\gamma(\tau),\tau; \gamma(\tau_2),\tau_2)\right) u_2(\gamma(\tau_2))^\lambda \] for every minimizing \(\mathcal{L}\)-geodesic \(\gamma: [\tau_1,\tau_2]\to M\). Then \[ \int_{M}v\, \text{dvol}_{g(\tau)} \geq \left(\int_{M}u_1\,\text{dvol}_{g(\tau_1)}\right)^{1-\lambda} \left(\int_{M}u_2\, \text{dvol}_{g(\tau_2)}\right)^\lambda. \] As consequence, by sending \(\tau_1\to 0\), one can recover the monotonicity of Perelman's reduced volume.











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