Parallel submanifolds of the real 2-Grassmannian (Q2251166)

Let \(N\) be a symmetric space. A submanifold \(M\) of \(N\) is \textit{parallel} if its second fundamental form is a parallel section of the bundle \(\mathrm{Symm}^2(TM, {\mathcal N} M)\) of \({\mathcal N} M\)-valued symmetric bilinear forms on \(TM\) (here \(TM\) and \({\mathcal N} M\) denote the tangent and the normal bundle of \(M\), respectively). Extrinsically symmetric submanifolds (i.e., invariant under the reflections in their affine normal spaces) are parallel submanifolds, and so are parallel submanifolds contained in a totally geodesic submanifold. The main result of this paper is the following theorem, which extends previous results for parallel submanifolds of Euclidean spaces [\textit{D. Ferus}, Math. Zeit. 140, 87--93 (1974; Zbl 0279.53048)], space forms [\textit{E. Backes} and \textit{H. Reckziegel}, Math. Ann. 263, 419--433 (1983; Zbl 0499.53045); \textit{D. Ferus}, Math. Ann. 247, 81--93 (1980; Zbl 0446.53041); \textit{W. Strübing}, Math. Ann. 245, 37--44 (1979; Zbl 0556.53033); \textit{M. Takeuchi}, Prog. Math. 14, 429--447(1981; Zbl 0481.53047)] and rank-one symmetric spaces (for an overview, see [\textit{J. Berndt} et al., Submanifolds and holonomy. Boca Raton, FL: Chapman and Hall/CRC (2003; Zbl 1043.53044)]). \noindent {Theorem.} If \(M\) is a complete parallel submanifold of the Grassmannian of oriented 2-planes \(G^+_2({\mathbb R}^{n+2})\), with \(\dim M\geq 2\), then there exists a totally geodesic submanifold \(\overline M\subset G^+_2({\mathbb R}^{n+2})\) such that \(M\) is a symmetric submanifold of \(\overline M\). In particular, every full complete parallel submanifold of \(G^+_2({\mathbb R}^{n+2})\), which is not a curve, is a symmetric submanifold. The analogous result holds for ambient space \(G^+_2({\mathbb R}^{n+2})^*\). Note that totally geodesic submanifolds \(\overline M\subset G^+_2({\mathbb R}^{n+2})\) were classified by \textit{B.-Y. Chen} and \textit{T. Nagano} [Duke Math. J. 45, 405--425 (1978; Zbl 0384.53024)]. As a by-product of the above theorem, the author also obtains a characterization of complete parallel submanifolds \(M\), with \(\dim(M)\geq 2\), of the product of spheres \(S^k\times S^1\) and, by duality, of the product of hyperbolic spaces \(H^k\times H\). This follows from the fact that, under an appropriate choice of a metric on \(G^+_2({\mathbb R}^{n+2})\), there exists a 2-fold isometric covering map of \(S^k\times S^1\) onto a totally geodesic submanifold of~\(G^+_2({\mathbb R}^{n+2})\). Another consequence of the above theorem is that every complete parallel submanifold \(M\) of the Grassmannian \(G^+_2({\mathbb R}^{n+2})\), which is not a curve, has extrinsically homogeneous holonomy bundle. In particular, every such submanifold is extrinsically homogeneous in \(G^+_2({\mathbb R}^{n+2})\) (i.e., a subgroup of the isometry group of \(G^+_2({\mathbb R}^{n+2})\) acts transitively on \(M\)). A similar statement holds for the non-compact dual symmetric space.