Curvature locus and principal configurations of submanifolds of Euclidean space (Q529987)

The authors investigate the second order geometry of submanifolds in Euclidean spaces. The aim is to study relations between properties of the curvature loci and the behavior of the principal configurations of the manifold. The study of the curvature locus of codimension \(2\) submanifolds in Euclidean spaces due to the first two authors [ibid. 26, No. 3, 799--824 (2010; Zbl 1205.53007)] was extended in this paper to the case of submanifolds immersed in higher codimension. The existence of umbilic and preumbilic normal directions in terms of the geometry of the curvature locus at a point is discussed. An interesting characterization of local convexity in terms of the curvature locus position in the normal space is also given.