Rigidity theorems on hemispheres in non-positive space forms (Q626503)

The following conjecture was posed by Min-Oo in 1995. Let \(M\) be an \(n\)-dimensional compact manifold with boundary \(\partial M\). Assume that \(M\) has scalar curvature \(R\geq n(n- 1)\). Furthermore, assume that \(\partial M\) is isometric to the unit sphere \(\mathbb{S}^{n-1}\), and that \(\partial M\) is totally geodesic in \(M\). Then \(M\) is isometric to the hemisphere \(\mathbb{S}^n_+\). In the paper, the authors study hypersurfaces in Euclidean space and hyperbolic space, and obtain several curvature conditions which characterize the hemisphere. They are able to drop the `totally geodesic' condition on \(\partial M\), and also relax the isometry condition on \(\partial M\). In particular, they prove the Min-Oo conjecture for hypersurfaces in these non-positive space forms. Their method in fact works for a more general situation than the incorporation condition, i.e., \(\partial M\) is diffeomorphic to \(\mathbb{S}^{n-1}\), \(\partial M\subset\mathbb{R}^n\times \{0\}\), and \(B_1\) is contained in the region enclosed by \(\partial M\) in \(\mathbb{R}^n\times\{0\}\), \(M\cap C_+= \emptyset\). Here \(B_1\) is the open unit ball in the hyperplane \(\mathbb{R}^n\times\{0\}\) centered at the origin, and \[ C_+=\{(x_1, x_2,\dots, x_n)\in\mathbb{R}^n\mid r\leq 1\text{ and }x^{n+1}> 0\}. \] Here, \(r=\sqrt{(x_1)^2+ (x_2)^2+\cdots+ (x_n)^2}\). Roughly speaking, the proofs work for any compact hypersurface \(M\) with boundary \(\partial M\), as long as the unit \(n\)-sphere can travel through \(\partial M\).