Stochastic heat equations with values in a manifold via Dirichlet forms

In this paper, we prove the existence of martingale solutions to the stochastic heat equation taking values in a Riemannian manifold, which admits the Wiener (Brownian bridge) measure on the Riemannian path (loop) space as an invariant measure using a suitable Dirichlet form. Using the Andersson-Driver approximation, we heuristically derive a form of the equation solved by the process given by the Dirichlet form. Moreover, we establish the log-Sobolev inequality for the Dirichlet form in the path space. In addition, some characterizations for the lower bound of the Ricci curvature are presented related to the stochastic heat equation.