A characterization of isoparametric hypersurfaces in a sphere with \(g\leq 3\) (Q2340436)

The main result of the paper under review is Theorem 1.2: Let \(M^n\) be a closed hypersurface in \(S^{n+1}(1)\) with constant mean curvature. If the covariant derivative of the Ricci tensor \(S\) of \(M\) satisfies: \[ <(\nabla _XS)Y, Z>+<(\nabla _YS)Z, X>+<(\nabla _ZS)X, Y>=3(1-\frac{2}{n})h<(\nabla _XA)Y, Z> \] for all vector fields \(X, Y\) and \(Z\) over \(M\), then \(M\) is congruent to one of the isoperimetric hypersurfaces with \(g\leq 3\). Here \(A\) and \(h\) denote the shape operator and the mean curvature of \(M\) respectively. Further, if \(\nabla S\neq 0\) then \(M\) is congruent to the Cartan hypersurface.