Bochner-Simons formulas and the rigidity of biharmonic submanifolds (Q2659481)

A biharmonic map \(\phi : M \to N\) between Riemannian manifolds is a critical point of the bienergy functional \(E_2(\phi) = \frac{1}{2}\int_M |\tau(\phi)|^2 dv\), where \(\tau(\phi) =\mathrm{Tr}_g \nabla d\phi\) is the tension field of \(\phi\). One interesting problem in this direction is the following conjecture [\textit{A. Balmus} et al., Isr. J. Math. 168, 201--220 (2008; Zbl 1172.58004)]: The only proper biharmonic hypersurfaces of \(\mathbb{S}^{m+1}\) are either hypersurfaces \(\mathbb{S}^m(1/\sqrt{2})\) or standard products of spheres \(\mathbb{S}^{m_1}(1/\sqrt2)\times \mathbb{S}^{m_2}(1/\sqrt2)\) with \(m_1+m_2=m, m_1\ne m_2\). In this paper, the authors prove this conjecture under additional geometric hypotheses. To do this, they introduce the stress-energy tensor of the biharmonic map as \textit{P. Baird} and \textit{J. Eells} [Lect. Notes Math. 894, 1--25 (1981; Zbl 0485.58008)] did to study harmonic maps. Fix a map \(\phi: M \to (N, h)\) from a smooth manifold into a Riemannian manifold, and think of \(E_2\) as a functional on the set of all Riemannian metrics on \(M\). Critical points of this new functional are characterized by the vanishing of the stress-energy tensor \(S_2\), and this tensor satisfies \[\operatorname{div}S_2 = - \langle \tau_2(\phi), d\phi\rangle. \] A submanifold \(M\) in \(N\) with \(\operatorname{div}S_2=0\) is called biconservative and it is characterized by the fact that the tangent part of its bitension field vanishes. It is easy to see that any submanifold with parallel mean curvature vector field in a space form is biconservative. The authors, first, compute the Lapacian of the squared norm of the tensor \(S_2\) for any hypersurface in a real space form. Using this, they prove that if \(\phi: M^m \to N^{m+1}(c)\) is a compact biconservative hypersurface in a space form \(N^{m+1}(c)\) with \(c\in \{-1,0,1\}\), and if \(M\) is not minimal, has constant scalar curvature and \(\mathrm{Riem}^M \ge 0\), then \(M\) is either \(\mathbb{S}^m(r), r>0\) if \(c \in \{-1, 0\}\), or \(\mathbb{S}^m(r), (0 < r < 1)\) or \(\mathbb{S}^{m_1}(r_1)\times\mathbb{S}^{m_2}(r_2)\), where \(r_1^2+r_2^2 =1, m_1+m_2 = m\), and \(r_1 \ne \sqrt{m_1/m}\) if \(c=1\). As a corollary, the authors obtain that if \(\phi: M^m \to\mathbb{S}^{m+1}\) is a compact proper biharmonic hypersurface with constant scalar curvature and \(\mathrm{Riem}^M \ge 0\), then \(M\) is either \(\mathbb{S}^m(1/\sqrt{2})\) or the product \(\mathbb{S}^{m_1}(1/\sqrt{2})\times \mathbb{S}^{m_2}(1/\sqrt{2})\), \(m_1+m_2 = m\), \(m_1\ne m_2\). The authors also obtain a new integral formula for \(S_2\), and show that compact biconservative submanifolds with parallel normalized mean curvature vector field, dimension less than or equal to ten, and nonnegative sectional curvature in space forms must have a parallel mean curvature vector field. As a consequence, they prove a result similar to that mentioned above replacing the constant scalar curvature condition by nowhere vanishing mean curvature for hypersurfaces with dimension less than or equal to ten.