Minkowski formulae and Alexandrov theorems in spacetime (Q516137)

The classical Minkowski formula relates integrals of two successive elementary symmetric functions of the principal curvatures of a hypersurface in the Euclidean space \(\mathbb{R}^n\), where in one of the integrals the conformal symmetry of the ambient space enters the density. In this paper, it is extended to space-like codimension-2 submanifolds (in Lorentzian manifolds) admitting a ``hidden symmetry'' from conformal Killing-Yano two-forms. Particular examples of those are constant curvature spaces and the Schwarzschild spacetime. The Minkowski formula applies in the proof of Alexandrov's theorem stating that a closed constant mean curvature submanifold of codimension-1 in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) is the round sphere. Likewise, the authors apply their generalization of the Minkowski formula to obtain the following result: In a static spherically symmetric spacetime, a codimension-2 submanifold with constant normalized null expansion (null mean curvature) must lie in a shear-free (umbilical) null hypersurface. These results are generalized for higher-order curvature invariants. In particular, the notion of mixed higher-order mean curvature is introduced to highlight the special null geometry of the submanifold. Finally, Alexandrov-type theorems are established for space-like codimension-two submanifolds with constant mixed higher-order mean curvature, which are generalizations of hypersurfaces of constant Weingarten curvature in the Euclidean space.