A uniform Sobolev inequality under Ricci flow

Abstract

Let ${\bf M}$ be a compact Riemannian manifold and the metrics $g=g(t)$ evolve by the Ricci flow. We prove the following result. The Sobolev imbedding by Aubin or Hebey, perturbed by a scalar curvature term and modulo sharpness of constants, holds uniformly for $({\bf M}, g(t))$ for all time if the Ricci flow exists for all time; and if the Ricci flow develops a singularity in finite time, then the same Sobolev imbedding holds uniformly after a standard normalization. As a consequence, long time non-collapsing results are derived, which improve Perelman's local non-collapsing results. An application to 3-d Ricci flow with surgery is also presented.