Paper · Aug 14, 2026

The Fisher Metric of the Ricci Flow Heat Kernel

Bennett Chow, Robert Koirala

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Abstract

We introduce and study a Fisher information metric associated to the conjugate heat kernel of a Ricci flow . This tensor measures, at a fixed scale, how the pointed heat-kernel measure changes when the base point is moved. We prove that is monotone in scale and satisfies . We relate its trace to the pointed Nash entropy and prove a matrix square identity for the Fisher defect This identity gives a rigidity theorem for the equality case; on closed connected flows one has the strict inequalities at every positive scale, while in the complete case equality forces a Euclidean splitting. We also develop several consequences of this point of view. These include a sharp reverse Poincaré inequality for the heat semigroup, a contraction formula for -divergences along conjugate heat flow, and a canonical construction of heat-kernel splitting maps from large eigenvalues of the Fisher endomorphism. As applications, we relate pointed Nash entropy close to to small Fisher deficit at comparable scales, and we obtain a codimension-one Fisher-metric criterion for applying Bamler's -regularity theorem.

Comments: 61 pages; Comments are welcome

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The 8 papers on this site closest to this one, judged by the topics they share, the words and phrases in their titles and abstracts, and their authors. They are not its citations, but a map of the work around it. Papers here go back to 2021, plus the canon.

Connected papers This paper in the centre and the 8 papers closest to it around it, in date order clockwise from the top. The closer a paper sits to the centre, the stronger the connection. This paper Entropy and heat kernel bounds on a Ricci flow background (Richard H Bamler, 2020)3Bamler 2020 Nash Entropy and Heat Kernel on Generalized Ricci Flow (Xilun Li, 2022)2Li 2022 Heat kernel on Ricci shrinkers (II) (Yu Li and Bing Wang, 2023)7Li 2023 Perelman's entropy and heat kernel bounds on RCD spaces (Camillo Brena, 2025)6Brena 2025 Dynamical functionals on ancient ARF Ricci flows (Isaac M. Lopez and Rio Schillmoeller, 2025)8Lopez 2025 Sharp Gaussian Isoperimetry along a Ricci Flow (Robert Koirala, 2026)1Koirala 2026 Heat kernel on Ricci shrinker metric measure spaces (Bing Wang and Jie Wang, 2026)5Wang 2026 Pseudolocality of G₂-Laplacian Flow (Weiyong He and Longhuan Yan, 2026)4He 2026
Closer to the centre: more closely connected. Clockwise from the top: oldest to newest. Ricci flowWider flowsalso connected to each other
  1. Sharp Gaussian Isoperimetry along a Ricci Flow

    Robert Koirala PDF

    Topics Heat kernel, Perelman entropy, Stability & uniqueness · Same author Robert Koirala · Shared terms “conjugate heat”, “kernel measure”, “Poincaré inequality”

  2. Nash Entropy and Heat Kernel on Generalized Ricci Flow

    Xilun Li PDF

    Topics Heat kernel, Perelman entropy · Shared terms “Nash entropy”

  3. Entropy and heat kernel bounds on a Ricci flow background

    Richard H BamlerThe canon PDF

    Topics Heat kernel, Perelman entropy · Shared terms “pointed Nash”, “Nash entropy”, “conjugate heat”

  4. Pseudolocality of -Laplacian Flow

    Weiyong He and Longhuan Yan PDF

    Topics Heat kernel, Perelman entropy, Stability & uniqueness · Shared terms “pointed Nash”, “Nash entropy”, “conjugate heat”

  5. Heat kernel on Ricci shrinker metric measure spaces

    Bing Wang and Jie Wang PDF

    Topics Heat kernel, Perelman entropy · Shared terms “Nash entropy”

  6. Perelman's entropy and heat kernel bounds on RCD spaces

    Camillo Brena PDF

    Topics Heat kernel, Perelman entropy, Stability & uniqueness

  7. Heat kernel on Ricci shrinkers (II)

    Yu Li and Bing Wang PDF

    Topics Heat kernel · Shared terms “Bamler”

  8. Dynamical functionals on ancient ARF Ricci flows

    Isaac M. Lopez and Rio Schillmoeller PDF

    Topics Heat kernel, Eigenvalues & spectrum, Stability & uniqueness · Shared terms “conjugate heat”

Read around it

Background reading

The guides for the topics of this paper: what each idea is, why it matters, and the papers to read first.

In the guidebook

  1. 6A.12
    Entropy, Information and DiffusionBook 6A · The Heat Equation and Its Relatives

    Entropy along the heat flow, the log-Sobolev inequality and Li–Yau: the ancestors of Perelman’s entropy.

  2. 6D.4
    Fokker–Planck, Time Reversal and Diffusion ModelsBook 6D · Diffusions, Finance and Computation

    How densities of diffusions evolve, relative entropy and convergence to equilibrium, reversing a diffusion in time with the score, and the generative models built on it, with Perelman's conjugate heat equation as the geometric twin.

  3. 6A.3
    The Heat Equation on ℝⁿBook 6A · The Heat Equation and Its Relatives

    The heat kernel, smoothing, uniqueness, Brownian motion, and a Gaussian that runs to Perelman.