Capillary surfaces in a convex cone (Q2430664)

Motivated by previous results for constant mean curvature surfaces in dimensions three and higher, the authors prove several results concerning constant higher-order mean curvature hypersurfaces in \(\mathbb{R}^{n+1}\) and capillary surfaces in \(\mathbb{R}^{3}\). In particular, the following theorems are proved. Theorem 1: If \(S \subset \mathbb{R}^{n+1}\) is an embedded compact hypersurface with constant higher order mean curvature in a convex piecewise smooth cone \(C\) that is perpendicular to \(\partial C\), then \(S\) is part of a round hypersphere. Theorem 2: Every embedded disk type capillary surface in a convex polyhedral cone with at most five faces is part of a round sphere. Theorem 3: If \(C\) is a right cone over a regular \(n\)-gon and \(S\) is a capillary surface in \(C\) with constant contact angle with \(\partial S\), then \(S\) is round. The proof of Theorem 1 requires both an extension of the Minkowski formula to immersed hypersurfaces with nonempty boundary and an extension of a technique of \textit{A. Ros} [Rev. Mat. Iberoam. 3, No.~3--4, 447--453 (1987; Zbl 0673.53003)] using the Reilly formula [\textit{R. Reilly}, Indiana Univ. Math. J. 26, 459--472 (1977; Zbl 0391.53019)] to prove a certain inequality on the hypersurfaces under consideration. The proofs of Theorems 2 and 3 use the Poincaré-Hopf theorem [\textit{J. Choe}, Math. Ann. 323, No.~1, 143--156 (2002; Zbl 1016.53007)] and the parallel \(H\)-surface [\textit{F. Sauvigny}, Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 110, No.~2, 125--140 (1990; Zbl 0753.53006)].