The second gap of the scalar curvature of complete minimal hypersurfaces (Q6939082)

Let \(M^n\) be an \(n\)-dimensional hypersurface in a unit sphere \(S^{n+1}(1)\). By choosing a local orthonormal frame \(\{\overrightarrow{e}_1,\cdots,\overrightarrow{e}_n,\overrightarrow{e}_{n+1}\}\) and the dual coframe \(\{\omega_1,\cdots,\omega_n,\omega_{n+1}\}\) on \(M^n\), we have \(\omega_{n+1}=0\) and \N\[\N\omega_{i,n+1}=\sum_jh_{ij}\omega_j,\quad h_{ij}=h_{ji}.\N\]\NThen, a function \(f_3\) is defined by \N\[\Nf_3=\sum_{ijk}h_{ij}h_{jk}h_{ki}.\N\]\NThe authors prove that for a complete minimal hypersurface \(M^n\) of constant scalar curvature, if \(f_3\) is constant and \(S\leq 1.8252n-0.712898\), then \(S=0\) or \(S=n\), where \(S\) denotes the squared norm of the second fundamental form of \(M^n\). When \(S=0\), \(M^n\) is isometric to the totally geodesic sphere. When \(S=n\), \(M^n\) is isometric to the Clifford torus. Since the scalar curvature \(r\) satisfies \(r=n(n-1)-S\) they obtain the second gap of the scalar curvature, which strongly supports Chern's conjecture.