On \(\delta\)-Casorati curvature invariants of Lagrangian submanifolds in quaternionic Kähler manifolds of constant \(q\)-sectional curvature (Q6100697)

This article is about \(\delta\)-Casorati curvature invariants of Lagrangian submanifolds of quaternionic space forms. Let us explain these terms one by one, in reverse order. Let \((M,g,\mathcal Q)\) be a quaternionic Kähler manifold, where \(\mathcal Q\subset \mathrm{End}\,(TM)\) is the quaternionic structure bundle. A tangent 2-plane \(\Pi\subset T_xM\) is called half-quaternionic if it admits a basis \(\{U_1,U_2\}\) such that \(\mathcal Q(U_1)=\mathcal Q(U_2)\). The sectional curvature of a half-quaternionic 2-plane is called a \(q\)-sectional curvature, and a manifold of constant \(q\)-sectional curvature is known as a quaternionic space form. The simply connected quaternionic space forms are \(\mathbb H\mathrm{P}^n\) (positive \(q\)-sectional curvature), \(\mathbb{H}\mathrm{H}^n\) (negative) and \(\mathbb{H}^n\) (zero). A submanifold \(X\subset M\) is called totally real if its tangent spaces are mapped by \(\mathcal Q\) into the corresponding normal spaces, and a totally real submanifold of maximal dimension (one quarter of the ambient space) is called Lagrangian. The Casorati curvature of a submanifold is simply the norm of its second fundamental form. This extrinsic invariant of the submanifold is related, via inequalities first introduced by B.~Y.~Chen, to intrinsic invariants built out of the scalar curvature and the pointwise infimum of the sectional curvature of the submanifold, called \(\delta\)-invariants. Chen's inequalities and their generalizations are of fundamental importance in the theory of submanifolds of space forms. The Casorati curvature can also be modified by adding a term proportional to its pointwise infimum (or supremum) over all hyperplanes in the tangent space to obtain (generalized) \(\delta\)-Casorati curvature invariants. With all this in mind, the main result of this rather technical paper consists of two Chen-type inequalities relating the scalar curvature of a Lagrangian submanifold in a quaternionic space form to its generalized \(\delta\)-Casorati curvature and Casorati curvature. The proof is a lengthy computation. The remainder of the paper is spent characterizing the equality cases of these two inequalities, and listing known examples. The authors prove that such submanifolds must be totally geodesic if the first inequality is saturated, and either totally geodesic or so-called Lagrangian \(H\)-umbilical in case the second inequality is saturated.