We propose to study the Hessian metric of given functional in the space of probability space embedded with L^2–Wasserstein (optimal transport) metric. We name it transport Hessian metric, which contains and extends the classical L^2–Wasserstein metric. We formulate several dynamical systems associated with transport Hessian metrics. Several connections between transport Hessian metrics and math physics equations are discovered. E.g., the transport Hessian gradient flow, including Newton’s flow, formulates a mean-field kernel Stein variational gradient flow; The transport Hessian Hamiltonian flow of negative Boltzmann-Shannon entropy forms the Shallow water’s equation; The transport Hessian gradient flow of Fisher information forms the heat equation. Several examples and closed-form solutions of finite-dimensional transport Hessian metrics and dynamics are presented.

We define the notion of a Ricci curvature lower bound for parametrized statistical models. Following the seminal ideas of Lott–Sturm–Villani, we define this notion based on the geodesic convexity of the Kullback–Leibler divergence in a Wasserstein statistical manifold, that is, a manifold of probability distributions endowed with a Wasserstein metric tensor structure. Within these definitions, which are based on Fisher information matrix and Wasserstein Christoffel symbols, the Ricci curvature is related to both, information geometry and Wasserstein geometry. These definitions allow us to formulate bounds on the convergence rate of Wasserstein gradient flows and information functional inequalities in parameter space. We discuss examples of Ricci curvature lower bounds and convergence rates in exponential family models.

We propose a numerical approach to solve variational problems on manifolds represented by the grid based particle method (GBPM) recently developed in Leung et al. (J. Comput. Phys. 230(7):25402561, 2011), Leung and Zhao (J. Comput. Phys. 228:77067728, 2009a, J. Comput. Phys. 228:29933024, 2009b, Commun. Comput. Phys. 8:758796, 2010). In particular, we propose a splitting algorithm for image segmentation on manifolds represented by unconnected sampling particles. To develop a fast minimization algorithm, we propose a new splitting method by generalizing the augmented Lagrangian method. To efficiently implement the resulting method, we incorporate with the local polynomial approximations of the manifold in the GBPM. The resulting method is flexible for segmentation on various manifolds including closed or open or even surfaces which are not orientable.