The Gauss image of entire graphs of higher codimension and Bernstein type theorems (Q353125)

It is well-known that an entire minimal graph of dimension \(\leq 7\) and codimension \(1\) in Euclidean space has to be planar, but there are counterexamples to such a Bernstein type problem in dimension \(8\) or higher. However when the additional condition that the slope of the graph is uniformly bounded is imposed, a theorem of \textit{J. Moser} [Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 14, 577--591 (1961; Zbl 0111.09302)], called a weak Bernstein theorem, asserts that such an entire minimal graph has to be planar. Let \(M^n\) be an oriented \(n\)-dimensional submanifold in \({\mathbb R}^{n+m}\). Moser's result [loc. cit.] has been extended to higher codimension by \textit{S.-s. Chern} and \textit{R. Osserman} [J. Anal. Math. 19, 15--34 (1967; Zbl 0172.22802)] for dimension \(n=2\) and \(m \geq 2\), and Barbosa and Fisher-Colbrie [\textit{D. Fischer-Colbrie}, Acta Math. 145, 29--46 (1980; Zbl 0464.53047)] for dimension \(n=3\). For dimension \(n = 4\) and codimension \(m \geq 3\), however, there is a counterexample given by \textit{H. B. Lawson} and \textit{R. Osserman} [Acta Math. 139, 1--17 (1977; Zbl 0376.49016)]. While the work of Lawson and Osserman produced a counterexample for a general Bernstein theorem, there are also some positive results in this direction (cf. [\textit{S. Hildebrandt} et al., Invent. Math. 62, 269--298 (1980; Zbl 0446.58006)]; [the first two authors, Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 9, No. 4, 277--296 (1999; Zbl 0960.53035)]; [\textit{M.-T. Wang}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 355, No. 1, 265--271 (2003; Zbl 1021.53005)]; [the second author and \textit{L. Yang}, Adv. Math. 219, No. 4, 1298--1326 (2008; Zbl 1147.49034)]). In this paper, the authors obtain a generalized Bernstein type theorem for entire minimal graphs of codimension \(\geq 2\), which substantially improve their previous results. Let \(f^\alpha(x^1, \dots, x^n)\), \(\alpha = 1, \dots, m\) be smooth functions on \({\mathbb R}^n\) with \(n\geq 3, m\geq 2\). The authors prove that if their graph \(M:= (x, f(x))\) is a submanifold with parallel mean curvature in \({\mathbb R}^{n+m}\), and there exists a number \(\beta_0 <3\) such that \[ v:= \left[\det\left(\delta_{ij}+\sum_\alpha \frac{\partial f^\alpha}{\partial x^i} \frac{\partial f^\alpha}{\partial x^j}\right)\right]^{\frac{1}{2}} \leq \beta_0, \] then \((f^1, \dots, f^m)\) has to be an affine \(n\)-plane.