Curvature terms in small time heat kernel expansion for a model class of hypoelliptic H\"{o}rmander operators

Abstract

We consider the heat equation associated with a class of second order hypoelliptic H\"{o}rmander 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.