Local Bernstein inequalities for eigenfunctions (Q6889820)

Let $(\mathcal{M}, g)$ be a compact smooth Riemannian manifold. A local estimate of Bernstein's type is proved for the eigenfunctions $\phi_\lambda$ of the Laplace-Beltrami operator $\Delta_g$.\N\NTheorem. If \N\[\N\Delta_g \phi_\lambda + \lambda \phi_\lambda =0\N\]\Nthen the estimate\N\[\N\sup_{B_g(x,r)} |\nabla \phi_\lambda| \leq C(\mathcal{M}, g, \varepsilon) \frac{\lambda^{1+\varepsilon}}{r} \sup_{B_g(x,r)} |\phi_\lambda|\N\]\Nholds whenever $\varepsilon>0$. Here $B_g(x,r)$ is a geodesic ball.\N\NThis is a considerable improvement of a result by \textit{H. Donnelly} and \textit{C. Fefferman} [Lect. Notes Pure Appl. Math. 122, 635--655 (1990; Zbl 0699.58063)]; they had the constant $C(\mathcal{M}, g)\lambda^{1+\frac d2}$ depending on the dimension $d$ of the manifold.\N\NThe proof uses the frequency function for an elliptic equation of the form\N\[\N\operatorname{div}(\mathbf{A}(x) \nabla u) = 0.\N\]\NSimilar results are obtained in this context.