Rigidity theorems for manifolds with boundary and nonnegative Ricci curvature (Q5954148)

Let \(\Omega\) denote an \((n+1)\)-dimensional compact connected Riemannian manifold with nonempty boundary \(M\) endowed with the induced metric. The first result of the paper is the following theorem: Assume that the Ricci curvature of \(\Omega\) is nonnegative and that the principal curvatures of \(M\) with respect to the inward pointing unit normals are bounded from below by a positive constant \(c\). If there is a nonconstant smooth function \(z\) and a positive continuous function \(g\leq ncH\) on \(M\) satisfying \((\Delta+g)z=0\) where \(H\) is the mean curvature of \(M\), then \(\Omega\) is isometric to an \((n+1)\)-dimensional Euclidean ball of radius \(1/c\) and the function must be \(nc^2\). This generalizes a theorem of the second author [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 125, 1801-1806 (1997; Zbl 0882.53028)] in which the function \(g\) was assumed to be equal to \(nc^2\). The second result of the paper is the following theorem: Assume that the Ricci curvature of \(\Omega\) is nonnegative and the second fundamental form \(h\) of \(M\) is positive semidefinite, then \[ A^2\geq (n+1)V\Big(\int_MH dA\Big), \] where \(V\) is the volume of \(\Omega\) and \(A\) is the area of \(M\). Equality holds if and only if \(\Omega\) is isometric to a metric ball in \(R^{n+1}\). This second theorem generalizes a result of \textit{R. C. Reilly} in [Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 75, 23-29 (1980; Zbl 0457.53008)] where \(h\) was assumed to be positive definite.