204 6. THREE-MANIFOLDS OF POSITIVE RICCI CURVATURE
Since Mn is compact, Jt I^8 Z;J (x, T) I dT .. 0 as t / T uniformly in
g(t)
x E Mn. Hence the function f : T Mn .. JR defined by
f (x, V) ~ lim 9(x t) (V, V)
t-+T '
exists and is continuous in x E Mn and V E TxMn. By polarization, we
can define a (2, 0) -tensor 9(x,T) on Mn by
1
9(x,T) (V, W) = 4 [f (x, V + W) - f (x , V - W)] ,
noting that 9(x,T) (V, W) = limt->T 9(x,t) (V, W). The uniform bounds on
9 ( t) ensure that
e-c 9(x,o) (V, V) ::; f (x, V) ::; ec 9(x,O) (V, V),
hence that 9(x,T) is a Riemannian metric. D
In particular, the lemma implies that if (Mn, 9 ( t)) is a solution of the
Ricci fl.ow satisfying a uniform curvature bound on a finite time interval
[O, T), then all metrics in the family {9 (t) : 0 ::; t < T} are uniformly equiv-
alent.
COROLLARY 6.50. Let (Mn,9(t)) be a solution of the Ricci flow. If
there exists a constant K such that IRcl ::; K on the time interval [O, T],
then
e-^2 KT 9 (x, 0) ::; 9 (x, t) ::; e^2 KT 9 (x, 0)
for all x E Mn and t E [O, T].
We are now ready to prove the proposition.
PROOF OF PROPOSITION 6.48. Since Mn is compact, it is covered by
a finite atlas in which we have uniform estimates on the derivatives of the
local charts. Henceforth, we fix such a chart <p : U ____.. JR.n. Since g and the
connection '\7 are fixed, it will suffice to prove that for each m E N, the
ordinary derivatives of 9 of order m satisfy an estimate
for all x E U and t E t E [O, T),
where the norm I· I = I· 1, 5 is taken with respect to the Euclidean metric 15 in U ,
and Cm depends on only on m , n, K, T, and 90· Adopting this point of view,
we shall in particular regard r as a tensor in U , namely as the difference of
the Levi-Civita connection of 9 and the background (fl.at) connection in U.
The proof will be by complete induction on m EN.
In the estimates which follow, C will denote a generic constant that may
change from one inequality to the next, but which depends only on m, n,
K, T, and 90 · Choose {3 = {3(K,T) so that 0 < {3 < min{KT,1}. By
Corollary 6.50, we have uniform pointwise bounds from above and below for