A note on the stability theorem of J. L. Barbosa and M. do Carmo for closed surfaces of constant mean curvature (Q752508)

The theorem of \textit{J. L. Barbosa} and \textit{M. P. do Carmo} [Math. Z. 185, 339-353 (1984; Zbl 0513.53002)] asserts that the only stable compact hypersurface of constant mean curvature in \({\mathbb{R}}^{n+1}\) is the round n-sphere. We present an elementary proof of this fact by considering the 2-parameter family \(y=s(x+t\xi)\) where x is the constant mean curvature immersion and \(\xi\) is the unit normal vector field.