Submanifolds with semi-parallel Möbius second fundamental form in the unit sphere (Q6057179)

An \(n\)-dimensional manifold \(M^n\) of Möbius geometry with second Möbius fundamental form \(\mathbf{B}\), van der Waerden-Bortolotti connection \(\bar{\nabla}\) and van der Waerden-Bortolotti curvature operator \(\bar R\) is called Möbius parallel if \(\bar{\nabla}\mathbf{B} \equiv 0\). It is called Möbius semi-parallel if \(\bar R \cdot \mathbf{B} = 0\). Following the recent classification of \(n\)-dimensional umbilic-free Möbius parallel submanifolds in the unit sphere \(\mathbb{S}^{n+p}\), this paper makes steps towards a classification of umbilic-free Möbius semi-parallel manifolds with the same properties. The covariant differentiation of the Möbius form is symmetric, the Blaschke tensor is semi-parallel, and the number of distinct Blaschke eigenvalues is at most \(p + 2\). Moreover, an inequality on the traceless Blaschke tensor plus a classification of equality cases is provided. In case of Möbius parallel hypersurfaces (\(p = 1\)), the authors show that there are at most three distinct Möbius principal curvatures and they classify Möbius semi-parallel umbilic-free hypersurfaces with two distinct Möbius principal curvatures up to Möbius equivalence. Finally, Möbius semi-parallel hypersurfaces with three distinct Möbius principal curvatures of dimension \(n \ge 3\) are shown to be Möbius parallel so that earlier classification results apply.