Superharmonicity of curvatures for surfaces of constant mean curvature (Q1188085)

The article deals with the superharmonicity of some curvatures (the scalar curvature \(R\), the Gauss-Kronecker curvature \(K\), the \(\nu\)-th mean curvature \({K}_ \nu\), the level curvature \(L\)) of hypersurfaces of constant mean curvature in \(\mathbb{R}^ n\). For instance, it is proved that for a hypersurface of positive sectional curvatures \(R\) and \(\log K\) are superharmonic. The results are applied in the study of liquid surfaces in a space of zero gravity. A constant rank theorem [see \textit{N. J. Korevaar} and \textit{J. L. Lewis}, Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 97, 19-32 (1987; Zbl 0624.35031)] is discussed in the context of superharmonicity of some curvatures. It is pointed out that the superharmonicity of curvatures gives rise to some well known results, such as the rigidity theorem for spheres, the classification of complete convex surfaces by Liebman-Klotz-Osserman and the convexity theorem of level curves on minimal surfaces by Shiffman. The last theorem is extended to surfaces of constant mean curvature.