Compact hypersurfaces in a unit sphere with infinite fundamental group. (Q1880094)

Let \(M\) be an \(n\)-dimensional compact hypersurface in the unit sphere \(S^{n + 1} (1)\) endowed with the standard Riemannian metric of constant curvature one. In a previous paper [J. Lond. Math. Soc. 64, No. 3, 755--768 (2001; Zbl 1023.53044)] the author posed the following problem: if \(M\) has constant scalar curvature \(n (n - 1) r\) with \(r > 1 - {{2} \over {n}}\) and the squared norm \(S\) of the second fundamental form of \(M\) satisfies the inequality \[ S \leq (n - 1) {{n (r - 1) +2} \over{n-2}} + {{n - 2} \over {n (r-1) + 2}}, \] then \(M\) is isometric either to a totally umbilical hypersurface or a Riemannian product of spheres \(S^1 (\sqrt{1 - c^2}) \times S^{n-1} (c)\). This problem is hard to solve. In the present paper the author tries to solve it under the topological condition that \(M\) has infinite fundamental group. He proves that if the fundamental group of \(M\) is infinite, \(M\) has costant scalar curvature \(n (n - 1) r\), with \(r \geq {{n - 2} \over {n -1}}\) and \(S\) satisfies the same inequality as in the previous problem, then \(M\) is isometric to the Riemannian product \(S^1(\sqrt{1-c^2}) \times S^{n-1}(c)\), with \(c^2 = {{n -2} \over {nr}}\). Moreover, he shows that if \(M\) has infinite dimensional fundamental group and the sectional curvatures of \(M\) are nonnegative, then \(M\) is isometric to the \(S^1(\sqrt{1-c^2}) \times S^{n-1}(c)\).