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We consider a general class of metric measure spaces equipped with a regular Dirichlet form and then provide a lower bound on the hitting time probabilities of the associated Hunt process. Using these estimates we establish (i) a generalization of the classical Lieb's inequality on metric measure spaces and (ii) uniqueness of nonnegative super-solutions on metric measure spaces. Finally, using heat-kernel estimates we generalize the local Faber-Krahn inequality recently obtained in [LS18].

We prove a local Faber-Krahn inequality for solutions $u$ to the Dirichlet problem for $\Delta + V$ on an arbitrary domain $\Omega$ in $\mathbb{R}^n$. Suppose a solution $u$ assumes a global maximum at some point $x_0 \in \Omega$ and $u(x_0)>0$. Let $T(x_0)$ be the smallest time at which a Brownian motion, started at $x_0$, has exited the domain $\Omega$ with probability $\ge 1/2$. For nice (e.g., convex) domains, $T(x_0) \asymp d(x_0,\partial\Omega)^2$ but we make no assumption on the geometry of the domain. Our main result is that there exists a ball $B$ of radius $\asymp T(x_0)^{1/2}$ such that $$ \| V \|_{L^{\frac{n}{2}, 1}(\Omega \cap B)} \ge c_n > 0, $$ provided that $n \ge 3$. In the case $n = 2$, the above estimate fails and we obtain a substitute result. The Laplacian may be replaced by a uniformly elliptic operator in divergence form. This result both unifies and strenghtens a series of earlier results.

We introduce a notion of quasilinear parabolic equations over metric measure spaces. Under sharp structural conditions, we prove that local weak solutions are locally bounded and satisfy the parabolic Harnack inequality. Applications include the parabolic maximum principle and pointwise estimates for weak solutions.

For large classes of non-convex subsets $Y$ in ${\mathbb R}^n$ or in Riemannian manifolds $(M,g)$ or in RCD-spaces $(X,d,m)$ we prove that the gradient flow for the Boltzmann entropy on the restricted metric measure space $(Y,d_Y,m_Y)$ exists - despite the fact that the entropy is not semiconvex - and coincides with the heat flow on $Y$ with Neumann boundary conditions., Comment: to appear in Calc.Var.PDE

This paper proves the strong parabolic Harnack inequality for local weak solutions to the heat equation associated with time-dependent (nonsymmetric) bilinear forms. The underlying metric measure Dirichlet space is assumed to satisfy the volume doubling condition, the strong Poincar\'e inequality, and a cutoff Sobolev inequality. The metric is not required to be geodesic. Further results include a weighted Poincar\'e inequality, as well as upper and lower bounds for non-symmetric heat kernels., Comment: 44 pages

This paper provides sharp Dirichlet heat kernel estimates in inner uniform domains, including bounded inner uniform domains, in the context of certain (possibly non-symmetric) bilinear forms resembling Dirichlet forms. For instance, the results apply to the Dirichlet heat kernel associated with a uniformly elliptic divergence form operator with symmetric second order part and bounded measurable coefficients in inner uniform domains in $\mathbb R^n$. The results are applicable to any convex domain, to the complement of any convex domain, and to more exotic examples such as the interior and exterior of the snowflake., Comment: Revision

In the context of a metric measure Dirichlet space satisfying volume doubling and Poincar\'e inequality, we prove the parabolic Harnack inequality for weak solutions of the heat equation associated with local nonsymmetric bilinear forms. In particular, we show that these weak solutions are locally bounded.

We prove a scale-invariant boundary Harnack principle for inner uni- form domains in metric measure Dirichlet spaces. We assume that the Dirichlet form is symmetric, strongly local, regular, and that the volume doubling property and two-sided sub-Gaussian heat kernel bounds are satisfied. We make no assumptions on the pseudo-metric induced by the Dirichlet form, hence the underlying space can be a fractal space.

We prove a scale-invariant boundary Harnack principle in inner uniform domains in the context of local regular Dirichlet spaces. For inner uniform Euclidean domains, our results apply to divergence form operators that are not necessarily symmetric, and complement earlier results by H. Aikawa and A. Ancona., Comment: 36 pages