Hypersurfaces with nonnegative scalar curvature (Q374600): Difference between revisions

This article investigates relations between convexity and the scalar curvature of a hypersurface. Motivation comes from weaker classical results that relate the sectional curvature to convexity, for example [\textit{R. Sacksteder}, Amer. J. Math. 82, 609--630 (1960; Zbl 0194.22701)]. The authors construct examples of closed surfaces with non-negative \(k\)th mean curvature \(\sigma_k\) whose first mean curvature \(\sigma_1\) attains a negative value. This contradicts a statement of [\textit{G. Huisken} and \textit{C. Sinestrari}, Acta Math. 183, No. 1, 45--70 (1999; Zbl 0992.53051)]. For strict positivity of \(\sigma_k\), all mean curvatures \(\sigma_l\) with \(1 \leq l \leq k\) are known to be positive. In the authors examples, \(k\) is greater than two. Indeed, they prove that non-negativity of the scalar curvature \(\sigma_2\) implies non-negativity of \(\sigma_1\) (up to orientation). As a corollary, non-negativity of the scalar curvature is preserved by the mean curvature flow. The above result does not hold for non-closed surfaces but it can be generalized to asymptotically flat surfaces with countably many ends. This the authors use to prove a positive mass theorem for arbitrary dimension -- a valuable contribution to an active research topic.