Heat kernel on a finite isometric quotient ($K_{U\backslash N}(t,\bar{x},\bar{y})={\sum }_{u\in U}{K}_N(t,x,uy)$)

For a finite free action by Riemannian isometries, the Riemannian heat kernel on the quotient is the image sum shown above. Integrating over a fundamental domain combines all images into the integral on the covering manifold, proving the initial condition and showing that there is no averaging factor in the kernel. The heat trace does have an averaging factor $1/|U|$, because the integral of a quotient function over the cover is $|U|$ times its quotient integral. Mere freeness of a general nondiscrete group action is not enough for this covering formula.

The normalized pullback is a unitary map from $L^2$ of the quotient onto the deck-invariant subspace of $L^2$ of the cover. Local isometry and the sheet-counting integration formula preserve the Dirichlet quadratic form. Therefore the Friedrichs extension and its heat semigroup intertwine with this map. A finite sum of lifted Riemannian heat kernels gives the quotient kernel; independence of lifts follows by reindexing the deck group. This formulation avoids a uniqueness claim for unrestricted heat-equation solutions on a noncompact or incomplete manifold.