No Arabic abstract
This paper deals with the subject of infinitesimal variations of Euclidean submanifolds with arbitrary dimension and codimension. The main goal is to establish a Fundamental theorem for these geometric objects. Similar to the theory of isometric immersions in Euclidean space, we prove that a system of three equations for a certain pair of tensors are the integrability conditions for the differential equation that determines the infinitesimal variations. In addition, we give some rigidity results when the submanifold is intrinsically a Riemannian product of manifolds.
This paper belongs to the realm of conformal geometry and deals with Euclidean submanifolds that admit smooth variations that are infinitesimally conformal. Conformal variations of Euclidean submanifolds is a classical subject in differential geometry. In fact, already in 1917 Cartan classified parametrically the Euclidean hypersurfaces that admit nontrivial conformal variations. Our first main result is a Fundamental theorem for conformal infinitesimal variations. The second is a rigidity theorem for Euclidean submanifolds that lie in low codimension.
A basic question in submanifold theory is whether a given isometric immersion $fcolon M^ntoR^{n+p}$ of a Riemannian manifold of dimension $ngeq 3$ into Euclidean space with low codimension $p$ admits, locally or globally, a genuine infinitesimal bending. That is, if there exists a genuine smooth variation of $f$ by immersions that are isometric up to the first order. Until now only the hypersurface case $p=1$ was well understood. We show that a strong necessary local condition to admit such a bending is the submanifold to be ruled and give a lower bound for the dimension of the rulings. In the global case, we describe the situation of compact submanifolds of dimension $ngeq 5$ in codimension $p=2$.
In the realm of conformal geometry, we give a classification of the Euclidean hypersurfaces that admit a non-trivial conformal infinitesimal variation. In the restricted case of conformal variations, such a classification was obtained by E. Cartan in 1917. The case of infinitesimal isometric variations was done by U. Sbrana in 1908. In particular, we show that the class of hypersurfaces that allow a conformal infinitesimal variation is much larger than the one considered by Cartan.
Let $fcolon M^{2n}tomathbb{R}^{2n+p}$ denote an isometric immersion of a Kaehler manifold of complex dimension $ngeq 2$ into Euclidean space with codimension $p$. If $2pleq 2n-1$, we show that generic rank conditions on the second fundamental form of the submanifold imply that $f$ has to be a minimal submanifold. In fact, for codimension $pleq 11$ we prove that $f$ must be holomorphic with respect to some complex structure in the ambient space.
We give a complete classification of submanifolds with parallel second fundamental form of a product of two space forms. We also reduce the classification of umbilical submanifolds with dimension $mgeq 3$ of a product $Q_{k_1}^{n_1}times Q_{k_2}^{n_2}$ of two space forms whose curvatures satisfy $k_1+k_2 eq 0$ to the classification of $m$-dimensional umbilical submanifolds of codimension two of $Sf^ntimes R$ and $Hy^ntimes R$. The case of $Sf^ntimes R$ was carried out in cite{mt}. As a main tool we derive reduction of codimension theorems of independent interest for submanifolds of products of two space forms.