Log-Sobolev inequalities: Different roles of Ric and Hess

Abstract

Let $P_t$ be the diffusion semigroup generated by $L:=Δ+\nabla V$ on a complete connected Riemannian manifold with $\operatorname {Ric}\ge-(σ^2ρ_o^2+c)$ for some constants $σ, c>0$ and $ρ_o$ the Riemannian distance to a fixed point. It is shown that $P_t$ is hypercontractive, or the log-Sobolev inequality holds for the associated Dirichlet form, provided $-\operatorname {Hess}_V\geδ$ holds outside of a compact set for some constant $δ>(1+\sqrt{2})σ\sqrt{d-1}.$ This indicates, at least in finite dimensions, that $\operatorname {Ric}$ and $-\operatorname {Hess}_V$ play quite different roles for the log-Sobolev inequality to hold. The supercontractivity and the ultracontractivity are also studied.