On minimal spheres of area \(4\pi\) and rigidity (Q484262)

Summary: Let \(M\) be a complete Riemannian \(3\)-manifold with sectional curvatures between \(0\) and \(1\). A minimal \(2\)-sphere immersed in \(M\) has area at least \(4\pi\). If an embedded minimal sphere has area \(4\pi\), then \(M\) is isometric to the unit \(3\)-sphere or to a quotient of the product of the unit \(2\)-sphere with \(\mathbb R\), with the product metric. We also obtain a rigidity theorem for the existence of hyperbolic cusps. Let \(M\) be a complete Riemannian \(3\)-manifold with sectional curvatures bounded above by \(-1\). Suppose there is a \(2\)-torus \(T\) embedded in \(M\) with mean curvature one. Then, the mean convex component of \(M\) bounded by \(T\) is a hyperbolic cusp, \textit{i.e.}, it is isometric to \(T \times \mathbb R\) with the constant curvature \(-1\) metric: \(e^{-2t}d\sigma_0^2+dt^2\) with \(d\sigma_0^2\) a flat metric on \(T\).