\(L^2\)-isolation phenomenon for complete surfaces arising from Yang-Mills theory (Q2457819)

Let \(M\) be a complete surface with parallel mean curvature in a complete simply connected space form \({\mathbf F} ^{2+ p}(c)\) of constant curvature \(c\). Denote by \(H\) and \(S\) the mean curvature and the squared length of the second fundamental form of \(M\), respectively. Motivated by the \(L^{2}\)-isolation phenomenon in Yang-Mills theory, the authors prove that if \(\int_{M}(S-2H^{2})^{2}\,dM< D(H,c)\), where \(c + H^{2}>0\), \(D(H,c)\) is an explicit positive constant depending on \(H\) and \(c\), then \(S \equiv 2H^2\), i.e., \(M\) is a totally umbilical sphere \(S^{2}(1/\sqrt{c + H^{2}})\). The authors conclude the paper with an open problem.