On the Ricci curvature of a compact hypersurface in Euclidean space (Q1891978)

In this article a pinching theorem for the Ricci curvature is demonstrated. That is: Let \(M^n\) be a \(n\)-dimensional compact connected hypersurface in \(\mathbb{R}^{n + 1}\) so that \(M^n \subset B(r)\) (the closed ball centered at the origin with radius \(r\)). If for any \(p \in M^n\) and any unit vector \(V \in T_p M\), we have \(\text{Ricc} (V,V) \leq {n - 1 \over r^2}\), then \(M^n\) must be the boundary of \(B(r)\). The proof method follows closely the method of Coghlan and Itokawa who demonstrated for \(n \geq 3\) that if \(\text{sup }K = 1/r^2\) (\(K\) is the sectional curvature of \(M^n\)), then \(M^n\) must be the boundary of \(B(r)\). [\textit{L. Coghlan} and \textit{Y. Itokawa}, Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 109, No. 1, 215-221 (1990; Zbl 0703.53046)].