Willmore submanifolds in the unit sphere (Q1767266)

The author generalizes the self-adjoint differential operator used in the paper [\textit{S. Y. Cheng} and \textit{S. T. Yau}, Math. Ann. 225, 195--204 (1977; Zbl 0349.53041)] on hypersurfaces of a constant curvature manifold to general submanifolds. The generalized operator is no longer self-adjoint. The author finds its adjoint operator. By using this operator, the author gets the pinching theorem on Willmore submanifolds which is analogous to the pinching theorem on minimal submanifolds of a sphere given by Simon and Chern-do Carmo-Kobayashi [see \textit{J. Simons}, Ann. Math. 88, 62--105 (1968; Zbl 0181.49702); \textit{S. S. Chern, M. P. do Carmo} and \textit{S. Kobayashi}, in Funct. Anal. Relat. Fields, 59--75 (1970; Zbl 0216.44001)].