Ricci deformation of the metric on a Riemannian manifold (Q1084679)

In this paper the heat flow method developed by R. S. Hamilton to deform metrics in the direction of the Ricci curvature is used to prove a local pinching theorem for spherical space forms. The main theorem says that there exists a \(\delta_ n>0\) depending only on \(n>3\) such that if a compact n-dimensional Riemannian manifold M of positive scalar curvature satisfies \(| W|^ 2+| V|^ 2<\delta_ n| U|^ 2\), where W is the Weyl conformal curvature tensor, V is the traceless part of the Ricci tensor and U denotes the scalar curvature part of the Riemannian curvature tensor, then M admits a metric of constant positive sectional curvature. \(\delta_ n\) is given explicitly by \(\delta_ n=2/((n-2)(n+1))\) for \(n\geq 6.\) The proof is based on a detailed analysis of the different components of the algebraic zeroth order expression appearing in the evolution equation of the whole curvature tensor under Hamilton's flow. The above result is a significant improvement (using a completely different method) of a theorem of E. A. Ruh, where the constant \(\delta_ n\) could not be computed explicitly.