On surfaces immersed in Euclidean space \(\mathbb{R}^4\) (Q2379245)

The Grassmannian \(G_{4,2}\) of oriented \(2\)-planes in \(\mathbb{R}^4\) can be mapped to the topological product \(S^2 \times S^2\) of two \(2\)-spheres in \(\mathbb{R}^3\). This gives rise two maps \(\Phi\) and \(\Phi'\) from \(G_{4,2}\) to \(S^2\). Consider now a \(2\)-surface \(M \subset \mathbb{R}^4\) and its generalized Gauss map \(T: M \to G_{4,2}\) and define \(\varphi = \Phi \circ T\), \(\varphi' = \Phi' \circ T\). By a result of \textit{D. A. Hoffman} and \textit{R. Osserman} [Proc. Lond. Math. Soc., III. Ser. 50, 27--56 (1985; Zbl 0535.53005)], the Gaussian curvature \(K\) and the normal curvature \(K_N\) satisfy \(\det d\varphi = K + K_N\) and \(\det d\varphi' = K - K_N\). The authors give an alternative proof for this result and derive a few related corollaries.