274 9. TYPE I SINGULARITIES
If (9.12) holds, then by Lemma 9.12 there is rt (6) such that
0
P 2: rt 1Rml^2 1Rml^2 ,
whence it follows that taking c: :S: rt gives
J < - rye: G
- 4lt1.
Thus in either case, G is a subsolution of the heat equation for all times - oo < t < T , because
~G < t:::.G^2 (l - c:) (VG '\! R) - rye: G.
at - + R ' 2 iti
0
- Type I ancient solutions on surfaces
The objective of this section is to prove that the shrinking round 2-
sphere is the only nonflat Type I ancient solution of the Ricci flow on a
surface. Because of dimension reduction, this fact plays an important role
in the classification of 3-dimensional singularities.
Before we classify Type I ancient solutions on surfaces, we shall establish
a result which is of considerable independent interest. It follows from a gen-
eralization of the LYH differential Harnack estimates introduced in Section
10 of Chapter 5. We will discuss the full family of LYH differential Harnack
estimates for the Ricci flow in a chapter of the successor to this volume. For
now, we simply state the following result from [61].
PROPOSITION 9.20 (LYH estimate, trace version). If (Mn,g (t)) is a
solution of the unnormalized Ricci flow on a compact manifold with initially
positive curvature operator, then for any vector field X on Mn and all times
t > 0 such that the solution exists, one has
a R
0 :S: at R + t + 2 ('\! R, X) + 2 Re (X, X).
COROLLARY 9.21. If (Mn, g (t)) is a solution of the unnormalized Ricci
flow on a compact manifold with initially positive curvature operator, then
the function tR is pointwise nondecreasing for all t 2: 0 that the solution
exists. If (Mn, g ( t)) is also ancient, then R itself is pointwise nondecreasing.
PROOF. Taking X = 0, we have
at a (tR) = t (a at R + i R) ;:::: o
for all t 2: 0 such that the solution exists. This proves the first assertion.
To prove the second assertion, notice that one has
a R
-R+-->O
at t+a -