Surfaces with flat normal bundle: An explicit construction (Q5931424)

The author makes an explicit construction of an arbitrary two-dimensional surface \(M^2\) in the unit hypersphere \(S^{m+1} \subset E^{m+2}\) with flat normal bundle. Hereby \(S^2\) is parametrized by curvature line parameters \(x,y\) and the construction depends on the solution of the linear PDEs \(\kappa_x= \tan\varphi (x,y)s_x\), \(\kappa_y= -\cot\varphi (x,y)s_y\) with any function \(\varphi (x,y)\). The author's considerations may be generalized to the case of submanifolds \(M^n\) with \(n>2\) if \(M^n\) carries a coordinate net of curvature lines. Surfaces \(M^2\) in a 4-dimensional quadric \(S^{3,1}\) of constant curvature 1 and signature \((+++-)\) resp. in the 4-dimensional Plücker quadric \(S^{2,2}\) of constant curvature 1 and signature \((++--)\) with flat normal bundle are constructed as well using Ribaucour congruences of spheres resp. \(W\)-congruences of lines in \(E^3\). Finally, questions of evolution and Hamilton operators are handled.