Submanifolds with pointwise planar normal sections in a sphere (Q5944997)

One says that a submanifold \(M\) of Euclidean space has pointwise \(k\)-planar normal sections, if for all points \(p\) of \(M\) the first \(k\) derivatives of any normal section at \(p\) are linearly dependent at \(p\). It makes sense to speak of submanifolds of the sphere with pointwise \(k\)-planar normal sections, if an immersion of the sphere into Euclidean space is specified. Besides the canonical embedding of the \(n\)-sphere into Euclidean \((n+1)\)-space, it is natural to consider the Veronese immersion into the vector space of real symmetric \((n+1)\) by \((n+1)\) matrices. The author classifies submanifolds of the sphere with pointwise 3-planar normal sections with respect to the Veronese immersion. The result is that such submanifolds are totally geodesic.