Minimal Lagrangian isotropic immersions in indefinite complex space forms (Q408220): Difference between revisions

This paper studies minimal Lagrangian and isotropic submanifolds in complex space forms of indefinite character. An isotropic submanifold is one for which the second fundamental form vector, when applied twice to a unit tangent vector \(X\), has square norm independent of the choice of \(X\) (this norm can still depend on the point of the submanifold; when it is also independent of this point, the submanifold is called ``constant isotropic''). The corresponding problem in Riemannian geometry is well-understood, but its proof relies on compactness of the sphere of unit vectors, so different methods are required to address the indefinite case. The main result of the paper is, first, a restriction on the dimension \(n\) (assumed to be at least three) of the minimal Lagrangian isotropic submanifold, which must equal \(3 r +2\) for some positive integer \(r\). The second main result is a classification of such submanifolds when they are not totally geodesic and \(n < 14\). Additional interesting results proved in this paper are that minimal Lagrangian isotropic submanifolds of indefinite complex space forms are necessarily constant isotropic and with parallel second fundamental form. Moreover, if the submanifold is not totally geodesic, then it is locally symmetric. The classification theorem is proved by constructing a partial null frame well-adapted to the complex structure of the ambient manifold and the shape operator of the submanifold. For \(n <14\), the equations satisfied in this frame are used to find local isometries with explicitly constructed minimal Lagrangian isotropic submanifolds, thus providing the classification theorem.