Entropy and reduced distance for Ricci expanders

Abstract

Perelman has discovered two integral quantities, the shrinker entropy $\cW$ and the (backward) reduced volume, that are monotone under the Ricci flow $\pa g_{ij}/\pa t=-2R_{ij}$ and constant on shrinking solitons. Tweaking some signs, we find similar formulae corresponding to the expanding case. The {\it expanding entropy} $\ctW$ is monotone on any compact Ricci flow and constant precisely on expanders; as in Perelman, it follows from a differential inequality for a Harnack-like quantity for the conjugate heat equation, and leads to functionals $\mu_+$ and $\nu_+$. The {\it forward reduced volume} $\theta_+$ is monotone in general and constant exactly on expanders. A natural conjecture asserts that $g(t)/t$ converges as $t\to\infty$ to a negative Einstein manifold in some weak sense (in particular ignoring collapsing parts). If the limit is known a-priori to be smooth and compact, this statement follows easily from any monotone quantity that is constant on expanders; these include $\Vol(g)/t^{n/2}$ (Hamilton) and $\bar\lambda$ (Perelman), as well as our new quantities. In general, we show that if $\Vol(g)$ grows like $t^{n/2}$ (maximal volume growth) then $\ctW$, $\theta_+$ and $\bar\lambda$ remain bounded (in their appropriate ways) for all time. We attempt a sharp formulation of the conjecture.