J. Simons' type integral formula for hypersurfaces in a unit sphere (Q2470526)

The paper studies hypersurfaces in \(S^{n+1}\) with vanishing higher mean curvatures \(H_k\). The \(k\)-th mean curvature \(H_k\) is, up to a factor, the \(k\)-th elementary symmetric polynomial in the principal curvatures of the hypersurface. For instance, \(H_1=0\) if and only if \(M\) is a minimal hypersurface. Let \(S\) denote the square of the norm of the second fundamental form. If \(M\) is a compact \(k\)-minimal surface, where \(k=1\) or \(k=2\), then there is an integral formula \[ \int_M S\left(\frac{n(k^2-2k+n)}{k(n-k)}-S\right)dV \leq 0. \] This formula goes back to \textit{J. Simons} for \(k=1\) [Ann. Math. (2) 88, 62--105 (1968; Zbl 0181.49702)] and to \textit{H. Li} for \(k=2\) [Math. Ann. 305, No. 4, 665--672 (1996; Zbl 0864.53040)]. In contrast to these results, it is shown that this inequality is not satisfied for larger values of \(k\). More precisely, it is shown that in the case of a compact rotation hypersurface, the expression on the left hand side of this inequality is positive, provided that \(k=3\) and \(n>6\) or \(3<k<n\). In this case, the principal curvatures are explicitly computed and the Gauss, Codazzi and Ricci equations are used.