An affine analogue of the Hartman-Nirenberg cylinder theorem (Q1598183)

If \(X\) denotes a smooth, complete, connected submanifold of dimension \(n<N\) in a complex affine space \(A^N(\mathbb{C})\), and \(r\) is the rank of its Gauss map \(\gamma,\gamma (x)=T_x(X)\), then the authors prove in this excellently written paper that if \(2\leq r\leq n-1\), \(N-n\geq 2\), and if in the pencil of the second fundamental forms of \(X\), there are two forms defining a regular pencil all eigenvalues of which are distinct, then the submanifold \(X\) is a cylinder with \((n-r)\)-dimensional plane generators erected over a smooth, complete, connected submanifold \(Y\) of rank \(r\) and dimension \(r\). This result is an affine analogue of the Hartman-Nirenberg cylinder theorem proved for \(X\subset R^{n+1}\) and \(r=1\). Furthermore they show that for \(n\geq 4\) and \(r=n-1\), there exist complete connected submanifolds \(X\subset A^N (\mathbb{C})\) that are not cylinders. The very hard proof is carried out with help of the Monge-Ampère foliation.