Higher order parallel submanifolds of a complex space form (Q2638538)

A submanifold \(M^ n\) of a Riemannian manifold \(\tilde M^{n+p}\) is called k-parallel, if \({\bar \nabla}^ kh=0\), \(k\geq 1\), where h is the second fundamental form and \({\bar \nabla}\) is the van der Waerden- Bortolotti covariant derivative. The 1-parallel submanifolds of a Euclidean \(E^{n+p}\) are described by \textit{D. Ferus} [Math. Z. 140, 87- 93 (1974; Zbl 0279.53048)] and of a space form \(\tilde M^{n+p}(c)\) by \textit{M. Takeuchi} [Manifolds and Lie groups, Pap. in Honor of Y. Matsushima, Prog. Math. 14, 429-447 (1981; Zbl 0481.53047)]; they are extrinsically symmetric. There exist k-parallel \(M^ n\) of \(E^{n+p}\), which are not (k-1)-parallel; for \(k=n=2\) and arbitrary p this was shown by the reviewer [Uch. Zap. Tartu. Gos. Univ. 734, 50-62 (1986; Zbl 0618.53005)] and for arbitrary k and \(p=1\) by the first author [Math. Z. 203, 635-643 (1990; Zbl 0671.53007)]. All 1-parallel complex \(M^ n\) in complex space forms \(\tilde M^{n+p}(c)\) with \(c\leq 0\) are totally geodesic [\textit{M. Kon}, Can. J. Math. 26, 1442-1449 (1974; Zbl 0297.53013)], but with \(c>0\) in \({\mathbb{C}}P^{n+p}(c)\) there exist only seven compact 1-parallel complex \(M^ n\) [\textit{H. Nakagawa} and \textit{R. Takagi}, J. Math. Soc. Japan. 28, 638-667 (1976; Zbl 0328.53009)]. Now the k-parallelism in the complex case is reduced to the 1- parallelism. Namely, it is proved that every complex k-parallel submanifold \(M^ n\) of a complex space form \(\tilde M^{n+p}(c)\) is 1- parallel.