For initial data in Sobolev spaces Hs(T), [Formula presented], the solution to the Cauchy problem for the Benjamin-Ono equation on the circle is shown to grow at most polynomially in time at a rate [Formula presented], 0<ϵ≪1. The key to establishing this result is the discovery of a nonlinear smoothing effect for the Benjamin-Ono equation, according to which the solution to the equation satisfied by a certain gauge transform, which is widely used in the well-posedness theory of the Cauchy problem, becomes smoother once its free solution is removed.
