Entropy and heat kernel bounds on a Ricci flow background

Abstract

In this paper we establish new geometric and analytic bounds for Ricci flows, which will form the basis of a compactness, partial regularity and structure theory for Ricci flows in [Bam20a, Bam20b]. The bounds are optimal up to a constant that only depends on the dimension and possibly a lower scalar curvature bound. In the special case in which the flow consists of Einstein metrics, these bounds agree with the optimal bounds for spaces with Ricci curvature bounded from below. Moreover, our bounds are local in the sense that if a bound depends on the collapsedness of the underlying flow, then we are able to quantify this dependence using the pointed Nash entropy based only at the point in question. Among other things, we will show the following bounds: Upper and lower volume bounds for distance balls, dependence of the pointed Nash entropy on its basepoint in space and time, pointwise upper Gaussian bound on the heat kernel and a bound on its derivative and an $L^1$-Poincaré inequality. The proofs of these bounds will, in part, rely on a monotonicity formula for a notion, called variance of conjugate heat kernels. We will also derive estimates concerning the dependence of the pointed Nash entropy on its basepoint, which are asymptotically optimal. These will allow us to show that points in spacetime that are nearby in a certain sense have comparable pointed Nash entropy. Hence the pointed Nash entropy is a good quantity to measure local collapsedness of a Ricci flow Our results imply a local $\varepsilon$-regularity theorem, improving a result of Hein and Naber. Some of our results also hold for super Ricci flows.