Georgia Institute of Technology College of Sciences

Ricci flow is a sort of (nonlinear) heat problem under which the metric on a given manifold is evolving. There is a deep connection between probability and heat equation. We try to setup a probabilistic approach in the framework of a stochastic target problem. A major result in the Ricci flow is that the normalized flow (the one in which the area is preserved) exists for all positive times and it converges to a metric of constant curvature. We reprove this convergence result in the case of surfaces of non-positive Euler characteristic using coupling ideas from probability. At certain point we need to estimate the second derivative of the Ricci flow and for that we introduce a coupling of three particles. This is joint work with Rob Neel.