Killing fields, mean curvature, translation maps (Q1766846)

Let \(N\) be a Riemannian manifold with Ricci curvature Ric and \(M\) an immersed hypersurface of \(N\) possessing a unit normal field \(\eta\); its second fundamental form mean curvature are denoted by \(B\) resp. \(H\). Moreover, let a Killing field \(V\) on \(N\) be given and define the function \(f:=\langle\eta, V\rangle\). In this situation the authors derive the differential equation \[ \Delta f= -n\langle\text{grad\,}H, V\rangle- (\text{Ric}(\eta)+\| B\|^2)\cdot f, \] which is basic for the whole article. For instance, if \(H\equiv\text{const.}\), \(\text{Ric}\geq -nH^2\), \(f\geq 0\) and \(M\) is compact, then the authors deduce that \(M\) is invariant by the one parameter subgroup of isometries generated by \(V\), or it is umbilic and \(\text{Ric}(\eta)= -nH^2\). This result generalizes a theorem of \textit{D. A. Hoffman}, \textit{R. Osserman} and \textit{R. Schoen} for surfaces in \(\mathbb{R}^3\) [see Comment. Math. Helv. 57, 519--531 (1982; Zbl 0512.53008)]. If even there exists a parallelization by Killing fields \(V_1,\dots, V_{n+1}\) on \(N\), then the unit normal \(\eta\) can be represented canonically by a function \(\gamma: M\to \mathbb{R}^{n+1}\) and this can be used to derive further results on \(H\equiv\text{const.}\) hypersurfaces.