Heat kernel Gaussian bounds on manifolds I: manifolds with non-negative Ricci curvature

Abstract

This is first of series papers on new two-side Gaussian bounds for the heat kernel $H(x,y,t)$ on a complete manifold $(M,g)$. In this paper, on a complete manifold $M$ with $Ric(M)\geq 0$, we obtain new two-side Gaussian bounds for the heat kernel $H(x,y,t)$, which improve the well-known Li-Yau's two-side bounds. As applications of our new two-side Gaussian bounds, We obtain a sharp gradient estimate and a Laplacian estimate for the heat kernel on a complete manifold with $Ric(M)\geq 0$, and we also give a simpler proof for the result concerning the asymptotic behavior in the time variable for the heat kernel as was proved in \cite{LiP-1} on a complete manifold $M$ with $Ric(M)\geq 0$ and maximal volume growth.