$W$-entropy formula for the Witten Laplacian on manifolds with time dependent metrics and potentials

Abstract

In this paper, we develop a new approach to prove the $W$-entropy formula for the Witten Laplacian via warped product on Riemannian manifolds and give a natural geometric interpretation of a quantity appeared in the $W$-entropy formula. Then we prove the $W$-entropy formula for the Witten Laplacian on compact Riemannian manifolds with time dependent metrics and potentials, and derive the $W$-entropy formula for the backward heat equation associated with the Witten Laplacian on compact Riemannian manifolds equipped with Lott's modified Ricci flow. We also extend our results to complete Riemannian manifolds with negative $m$-dimensional Bakry-Emery Ricci curvature, and to compact Riemannian manifolds with $K$-super $m$-dimensional Bakry-Emery Ricci flow. As application, we prove that the optimal logarithmic Sobolev constant on compact manifolds equipped with the $K$-super $m$-dimensional Bakry-Emery Ricci flow is decreasing in time.