On the curvature of minimal 2-spheres in spheres (Q1273141)

The Veronese immersions are the standard minimal immersions with positive curvature in an \(n\)-dimensional sphere. For each natural number \(s\) there exists a Veronese immersion with Gaussian curvature \(K_s={2\over s(s+ 1)}\). It is known that a minimal immersion with constant positive Gaussian curvature is locally congruent to one of these standard examples. It was conjectured by U. Simon in 1980 that if \(M\) is a compact minimal surface in \(S^n(1)\) with Gaussian curvature satisfying \(K_s\geq K\geq K_{s+1}\) then \(M\) is congruent to a Veronese immersion. So far, the conjecture has been studied by many people and has been proved for \(s=1\) and \(s=2\). For other values of \(s\), all results obtained so far need additional assumptions. In the present paper, the author proves the conjecture for \(s=3\), under the additional assumption that \(\alpha(K)\leq K\leq \beta(K)\), where \(\alpha(K)\) and \(\beta(K)\) are the roots of the equation \((K-1)(3K- 1)(6K- 1)(10K- 1)+\left({75\over 4} K^2- 6K\right) x+{5\over 4} x^2= 0\). He also studies the case of a minimal compact surface in \(S^6(1)\) with \({1\over 6}\geq K\geq{1\over 8}\) and obtains restrictions on the number of higher-order singularities.