Minimizing cones associated with isoparametric foliations (Q2188430)

If \(M\) is a submanifold of the unit sphere \(S\) in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) and \(C(M)\) is the cone over \(M\), which is the union of rays starting from the origin and passing through \(M\), then the cone \(C(M)\) is called area-minimizing if the truncated cone \(C^1(M)\) inside the unit ball is area-minimizing among all surfaces with boundary \(M\). A hypersurface \(M\) of a Riemannian manifold \(V\) is called isoparametric if \(M\) is locally a regular level set of a function \(f\) on \(V\) with the property that both \(\|\text{grad}f\|\) and \(\Delta f\) are constant on the level sets of \(f\). The function \(f\) is called isoparametric. It is known that \(M\) is an isoparametric hypersurface of \(V\) if and only if \(M\) and its parallel hypersurfaces have constant mean curvature. In the case in which the ambient space \(V\) is a real space form, then \(M\) has constant principal curvatures. The foliation of \(V\) by level sets of an isoparametric function is called an isoparametric foliation. Minimal isoparametric hypersurfaces and focal submanifolds are two classes of minimal surfaces associated with isoparametric foliations of unit spheres. If \(M\) is a closed, embedded isoparametric hypersurface in the unit sphere \(S^{n-1}\subset\mathbb{R}^n\), \(\xi\) is a unit normal vector field along \(M\), \(g\) is the number of distinct principal curvatures of \(M\), \(\cot\theta_\alpha\), (\(\alpha=1,\dots,g\), \(0<\theta_1<\dots,\theta_g<\pi\)), are the principal curvatures with respect to \(\xi\), and \(m_\alpha\) is the multiplicity of \(\cot\theta_\alpha\), then \textit{H. F. Münzner} [Math. Ann. 251, 57--71 (1980; Zbl 0417.53030)], showed that \(g\) must be \(1,2,3,4\) or \(6\) and \(m_\alpha=m_{\alpha+2}\ (\text{indices} \mod g)\). For example, if \(g=1\), then the foliation is trivial, namely given by level sets of a height function restricted to \(S^{n-1}\) with respect to a nonzero direction in \(\mathbb{R}^n\), and if \(g=2\), then regular leaves are of type \(S^p\times S^{n-2-p}\) and the corresponding focal submanifolds are great spheres \(S^p\) and \(S^{n-2-p}\). In this paper, the authors find new series of minimizing cones. They are cones over focal submanifolds and cones over suitable products among these two classes. Except in low dimensions, all such cones are shown minimizing. The authors show that cones over focal submanifolds of isoparametric foliations with \(g=4\) and \((m_1,m_2)\ne (1,1)\) are area-minimizing, and for \(g=4\), \(m_1=m_2=2\), both \(C(M_+)\) and \(C(M_-)\), the cones over the focal submanifolds \(M_+\) and \(M_-\), are minimizing and of dimension \(7\) in \(\mathbb{R}^{10}\). Also, it is shown that cones over focal submanifolds of isoparametric foliations with \(g=3,6\) and \((m_1,m_2)\ne (1,1)\) are area-minimizing. Moreover, the authors consider the minimal products of minimal submanifolds. They show that cones over the minimal products of focal submanifolds of isoparametric foliations with \(g=3,4,6\) and \((m_1,m_2)\ne (1,1)\) are area-minimizing, and cones, of dimension no less than \(10\), over the minimal products of focal submanifolds are area-minimizing. Finally, they study cones over products among focal submanifolds and minimal isoparametric hypersurfaces and show that cones, of dimension no less than \(37\), over the minimal products among focal submanifolds and minimal isoparametric hypersurfaces are area-minimizing.