arXiv subjects

Elisa Paoli

Publications and source records attributed to Elisa Paoli.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2018

Volume geodesic distortion and Ricci curvature for Hamiltonian dynamics

We study the variation of a smooth volume form along extremals of a variational problem with nonholonomic constraints and an action-like Lagrangian. We introduce a new invariant describing the interaction of the volume with the dynamics and we study its basic properties. We then show how this invariant, together with curvature-like invariants of the dynamics, appear in the expansion of the volume at regular points of the exponential map. This generalizes the well-known expansion of the Riemannian volume in terms of Ricci curvature to a wide class of geometric structures, including all sub-Riemannian manifolds.

math.DG↗

arXiv2015

Curvature terms in small time heat kernel expansion for a model class of hypoelliptic Hörmander operators

We consider the heat equation associated with a class of second order hypoelliptic Hörmander operators with constant second order term and linear drift. We describe the possible small time heat kernel expansion on the diagonal giving a geometric characterization of the coefficients in terms of the divergence of the drift field and the curvature-like invariants of the optimal control problem associated with the diffusion operator.

math.AP↗

arXiv2015

Small time asymptotic on the diagonal for Hörmander's type hypoelliptic operators

We compute the small time asymptotic of the fundamental solution of Hörmander's type hypoelliptic operators with drift, at a stationary point, $x_0$, of the drift field. We show that the order of the asymptotic depends on the controllability of an associated control problem and of its approximating system. If the control problem of the approximating system is controllable at $x_0$, then so is also the original control problem, and in this case we show that the fundamental solution blows up as $t^{-N/2}$, where $N$ is a number determined by the Lie algebra at $x_0$ of the fields, that define the hypoelliptic operator.

math.AP↗