Harnack inequality for nondivergent parabolic operators on Riemannian manifolds

Abstract

We consider second-order linear parabolic operators in non-divergence form that are intrinsically defined on Riemannian manifolds. In the elliptic case, Cabr\'e proved a global Krylov-Safonov Harnack inequality under the assumption that the sectional curvature of the underlying manifold is nonnegative. Later, Kim improved Cabr\'e's result by replacing the curvature condition by a certain condition on the distance function. Assuming essentially the same condition introduced by Kim, we establish Krylov-Safonov Harnack inequality for nonnegative solutions of the non-divergent parabolic equation. This, in particular, gives a new proof for Li-Yau Harnack inequality for positive solutions to the heat equation in a manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature.