Codimension reduction theorems in conformal geometry (Q1328084)

Let \(\overline{M}\) be a conformally flat manifold and \(M\) a conformally nicely curved submanifold of \(\overline{M}\). A necessary and sufficient condition in order that \(M\) be locally contained in a totally umbilical submanifold of \(\overline{M}\) is proved. The condition is given by annihilating some forms, invariant under conformal changes of the metric of \(\overline{M}\), introduced by the same author in a previous paper. Sufficient conditions for the same fact are also found. All these results extend, to the conformal case, the theorems of Erbacher for isometric immersions.