Mean curvature in manifolds with Ricci curvature bounded from below (Q2412930)

Let \(M\) be a compact \(n\)-dimensional Riemannian manifold of nonnegative Ricci curvature and \(\Sigma\subset M\) be a compact embedded 2-sided minimal hypersurface. The main results are the following:\newline (1) If \(\Sigma\) does not separate \(M\), then \(\Sigma\) is totally geodesic and \(M\backslash\Sigma\) is isometric to the Riemannian product \(\Sigma\times (a,b)\). So, \(M\) is isometric to a mapping torus. \newline (2) If \(\Sigma\) separates \(M\), then the map \(i_{\ast}:\pi_{1}(\Sigma)\rightarrow\pi_{1}(M)\) induced by inclusion is surjective.\newline (3) Assuming the Ricci curvature of \(M\) satisfies \(\operatorname{Ric}_{M}\geq -(n-1)k\), \(k>0\), if \(\Sigma\subset M\) is a 2-sided hypersurface with mean curvature \(H\geq (n-1)\sqrt{k}\) separating \(M\), then \(i_{\ast}:\pi_{1}(\Sigma)\rightarrow\pi_{1}(M)\) induced by inclusion is surjective. This extends to the case when \(\Sigma\) is a free-boundary minimal surface with nonempty strictly convex boundary.\newline The authors prove from the results above the following non-existence case:\newline Theorem. Let \(N\) be a compact orientable \((n-1)\)-dimensional manifold and suppose the minimal number of generators of \(\pi_{1}(N)\) is \(k\).\newline (a) If \(k < n-1\), then \(N\) cannot be minimally embedded in the \(n\)-dimensional flat torus \(T^{n}\).\newline (b) If \(k=n-1\) and \(N\) is minimally embedded in \(T^{n}\), then \(N\) is a flat \(T^{n-1}\).\newline (c) If \(K>n-1\) and \(N\) is minimally embedded in the \(n\)-dimensional flat torus \(T^{n}\), then \(N\) separates \(M\) into connected components \(D_{1}\) and \(D_{2}\) and the number of generators of \(\pi_{1}(D_{j})\), \(j=1,2\), must be bigger than \(n-1\) (\(D_{1}\cup D_{2}=T^{n}\backslash N\)).\newline The main technique relies on the superharmonicity property of the distance function from an orientable minimal hypersurface sitting inside a manifold of nonnegative Ricci curvature.