Rigidity theorems for closed hypersurfaces in a unit sphere (Q2568405)

The authors prove some rigidity theorems for closed hypersurfaces in an unit sphere, so for instance for the Riemannian product \(S^{1}(\sqrt {1-c^{2}})\times S^{n-1}(c)\) with \(c^{2}\leq \frac{n-1}{n}\) without constancy condition on the mean or scalar curvature. Namely, they prove that if \(M^{n}\) is an \(n\)-dimensional closed hypersurface in \(S^{n+1}(1)\), and if \(S\) and \(H\) are the squared norm of the second fundamental form and the mean curvature of \(M^{n}\), respectively, and if the fundamental group \(\pi_1 (M^{n})\) of \(M^{n}\) is infinite and that \(S \leq S(n,H)\), where \[ S(n,H) = n + \frac{n^{3}H^{2}}{2(n-1)}- \frac{n(n-2)| H| }{2(n-1)}\sqrt{n^{2}H^{2}+4(n-1)}, \] then \(S\) is constant, \(S = S(n,H)\) and \(M\) is isometric to a Riemannian product \(S^{1}(\sqrt {1-c^{2}})\times S^{n-1}(c)\) with \(c^{2}\leq \frac{n-1}{n}\). They prove as well a new characterization for the totally umbilical hypersphere: if \(M^{n}\) is an \(n\)-dimensional closed orientable hypersurface in \(S^{n+1}(1)\), if the squared norm \(S\) of the second fundamental form of \(M^{n}\) is constant and if one of the following conditions holds: (a) the mean curvature \(H\) of \(M^{n}\) satisfies \(H^{2}\geq \frac{n-1}{n^{2}}S\) on \(M^{n}\); (b) the Ricci curvature of \(M^{n}\) are bounded from below by \(n-1\); then \(M^{n}\) is a totally umbilical hypersphere.