Extrinsic shape of circles and the standard imbedding of a Cayley projective plane (Q1365124)

Let \({\mathcal O}P^2(c)\) denote the Cayley projective plane of maximal sectional curvature \(c\). A curve \(\gamma=\gamma(s)\), parametrized by arc length \(s\), in \({\mathcal O}P^2(c)\) is called a circle if there exists a field \(Y=Y(s)\) of unit vectors along \( \gamma\) and a positive constant \(k\) which satisfies \(\nabla_{\gamma'}\gamma'=kY\) and \(\nabla_{\gamma'}Y =-k\gamma'\). The constant \(k\) is called the curvature of the circle. A circle \(\gamma\) in \({\mathcal O}P^2(c)\) is called a Cayley circle (respectively, a totally real circle) if \(K(\gamma',Y)=c\) (respectively, \(K(\gamma',Y)=c/4\)) where \(K\) is the sectional curvature function. In this paper, the authors study the images of geodesics, Cayley circles and totally real circles of \({\mathcal O}P^2(c)\) under the first standard imbedding of \({\mathcal O}P^2(c)\). The main result goes as follows: The first standard minimal imbedding of \({\mathcal O}P^2(c)\) into \(S^{25}(3c/4)\) maps a Cayley circle of curvature \(k\) to a circle of curvature \(\sqrt{k^2+c/4}\). Conversely, let \(M\) be an open set of \({\mathcal O}P^2(c)\) which is isometrically immersed into a real space form \(\widetilde M^{16+p}(\widetilde c)\). If there exists \(k>0\) and all Cayley circles of curvature \(k\) on \(M\) are circles in \(\widetilde M^{16+p}(\widetilde c)\), then \(M\) is locally congruent to \({\mathcal O}P^2(c)\) which is imbedded into \(S^{25}(3c/4)\) in \(\widetilde M^{16+p}(\widetilde c)\) through the first standard minimal imbedding.