Laplacian comparison theorem on Riemannian manifolds with modified $m$-Bakry-Emery Ricci lower bounds for $m\leq1$

Source abstract

In this paper, we prove a Laplacian comparison theorem for non-symmetric diffusion operator on complete smooth $n$-dimensional Riemannian manifold having a lower bound of modified $m$-Bakry-Émery Ricci tensor under $m\leq 1$ in terms of vector fields. As consequences, we give the optimal conditions for modified $m$-Bakry-Émery Ricci tensor under $m\leq1$ such that the (weighted) Myers' theorem, Bishop-Gromov volume comparison theorem, Ambrose-Myers' theorem, Cheng's maximal diameter theorem, and the Cheeger-Gromoll type splitting theorem hold. Some of these results were well-studied for $m$-Bakry-Émery Ricci curvature under $m\geq n$ ([19, 21, 27, 33]) or $m=1$ ([34, 35]) if the vector field is a gradient type. When $m<1$, our results are new in the literature.