Willmore tori in non-standard 3-spheres (Q4351111)

Critical points of the Willmore functional \(\Omega\) (for surfaces in \(S^3\) this is basically the total squared mean curvature) are known as Willmore surfaces. He conjectured that \(\Omega (T)\geq 2\pi ^2\) for any torus in the 3-standard sphere \((S^3,g)\). It has been confirmed in several particular cases, but it remains open in general. In this paper, the author raises and solves an interesting question. He considers the canonical variation of the standard metric of \(S^3\) associated to the Hopf fibration \(\Pi : (S^3,g)\rightarrow (S^2,g)\) and obtains a one-parameter family of Riemannian submersions \(\Pi : (S^3,g_t)\rightarrow (S^2,g)\), \(t>0\) such that \(g_1=g\). The complete horizontal lifts of closed curves in \((S^2,g)\) are tori \(S_t\) in \((S^3,g_t)\). Then, using the symmetric criticality principle of R. S. Palais, he shows that those \(S_t\) which are Willmore surfaces correspond to the liftings of closed elasticae in \((S^2,g)\) of Lagrange multiplier \(4t^2\). Finally, by lifting circles of \((S^2,g)\) and taking \(0<t<1\), he gets Willmore tori in \((S^3,g_t)\) with \(\Omega (S_t)<2\pi ^2\), obtaining a nice contrast to the Willmore conjecture.