We construct a maximal function associated with a family of skewed cylinders. These cylinders, which are defined as tubular neighborhoods of trajectories of a mollified flow, appear in the study of fluid equations such as the Navier-Stokes equations and the Euler equations. We define a maximal function subordinate to these cylinders, and show it is of weak type $(1, 1)$ and strong type $(p, p)$ by a covering lemma. As an application, we give an alternative proof for the higher derivatives estimate of smooth solutions to the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations.
Categories: math.AP physics.flu-dyn