- PROOF OF THE STABILITY OF HYPERBOLIC LIMITS 231
STEP 1. Reduction to a claim. Theorem 33.17 is a consequence of the following.
Claim. There exists a subsequence { kr} rEN such that { t(kr) }rEN is a strictly
increasing sequence and such that
(33.36)for all t E [t(ksl,oo) and 1::::; r < s < oo.
Indeed, assume that the claim is true. Without loss of generality, we may
assume that k 1 satisfies ;; 1 ::::; A. Choose a smooth nonincreasing function A (t),
defined for t sufficiently large, satisfying
2
A(t(kr)) = -- for r ~ 2.
kr-1Given any t > t(ki), there exists a unique r(t) EN - {1} such that t E (t(kr<•>-^1 l ,
t(kr<t>l]. We then have that A (t) ~ -k r(t)-1^2 and by (33.35) that each harmonic
embeddingp(krc•>-1) (t)/ : (1iA(t)i h)--+ (M, g (t)), t E [t(krc•>-1l, oo),
1-{A(t)is a -k-r(t)-1^1 - -almost isometry with the image p(krc•>-^1 l (t)I~, rLA(t) (81iA(t)) of the bound-
ary consisting of a disjoint union of almost totally umbillic tori with respect tog (t). By Proposition 33 .12, for each t > t(k^1 ) sufficiently large, close to the map
p(kr
rLA(•J
bedding
F(t): (HA(t),h)--+ (M,g(t)),
where F (t) (81iA(t)) is a disjoint union of CMC tori, each with area equal to A (t),
and where F (t)* (N) is normal to F (t) (81iA(t)), all with respect tog (t). Since
llp(kr(t)- il (t)* g (t) - hl1l1 k II ::::; _ 1 _
I r(t)-1 Ck(Jl l/kr(t)-1'. h) kr(t)-1and -k r(t)-1 -^1 - ::::; ~A ( t), one easily concludes thatt-+oo lim llF (t)* g (t) - hi 1-lA(t) II Ce(1lA(t)>h) =^0
for each£ E N.
Moreover, by (33.36) and by Proposition 33.12, it follows that the maps F (t)
depend smoothly on t. In particular, by the uniqueness of harmonic diffeomor-
phisms near the identity, we have the important fact that there is no discontinuity
of F (t) at any t = t(kr). The maps F (t), defined for all t sufficiently large, satisfy
all the conditions of Definition 33.2. Hence Theorem 33.17 is proved assuming the
claim.
STEP 2. Proof of the claim. First observe the following.LEMMA 33.18 (Almost fiat 2-tori with small area). If '/2 is an embedded 2-torus
in an almost hyperbolic piece in M^3 corresponding to 1i^3 , with bounded intrinsic
and extrinsic curvature and sufficiently small area, then T is contained in an almost
hyperbolic cusp region of the almost hyperbolic piece.