\(r\)-minimal hypersurfaces in space forms (Q1021778)

The authors study hypersurfaces of \((n+1)\)-dimensional real space forms \(M^{n+1}(c)\), \(c=\text{const.}\not=0\), whose position vector satisfies the condition \(L_rH=\lambda H\), where \(H\) is the mean curvature vector field and \(L_r\) is the linearized operator of the \((r+1)\)-th mean curvature for a fixed \(r=0,1,\ldots,n-1\). It is proved that the only hypersurfaces realizing this condition are those being \(r\)-minimal (the \(r\)-mean curvature \(H_{r+1}=0\)). Moreover, \(r\)-minimal hypersurfaces with two distinct principal curvatures in \(M^{n+1}(c)\) are studied. They are locally products \(\mathbb S^{m}(c_1)\times\mathbb S^{n-m}(c_2)\) under certain additional conditions. Examples are also stated.