Heat kernel asymptotics on the free step-two Carnot group with $3$ generators

Abstract

In this work, we establish the uniform heat kernel asymptotics as well as sharp bounds for its derivatives on the free step-two Carnot group with $3$ generators. As a by-product, on this highly non-trivial toy model, we completely solve the Gaveau-Brockett problem, in other words, we obtain the expression of the squared Carnot-Carathéodory distance, as explicitly as one can possibly hope for. Furthermore, the precise estimates of the heat kernel, and its small-time asymptotic behaviors are deduced.