A general inequality for conformally flat submanifolds and its applications (Q812809)

In [Jap. J. Math. 26, 105--127 (2000; Zbl 1026.53009)] the author introduced for an \(n\)-dimensional Riemannian manifold \(M\) a Riemannian invariant \(\delta(n_1,\dots,n_k)=\tau-\inf/\tau(L_1)+\dots +\tau(L_k)/\), where \(\tau =\sum_{i<j}K(e_i\wedge e_j)\) is the scalar curvature, \((n_1,\dots,n_k)\) is a \(k\)-tuple of integers \(n_1,\dots,n_k \geq 2\) with \(n_1+\dots+n_k\leq n\), \(k>0\), \(L_1,\dots,L_k\) run over all \(k\) mutually orthogonal subspaces of \(T_p M\), \(p\in M\), such that \(\dim L_j=n_j\), \(j=1,\dots,k\). Now a new Riemannian invariant is introduced. For each \(k\)-subspace \(L\) of \(T_p(M)\), \(p\in M\), the Ricci curvature is \(S(L)=S(e_1,e_1)+\dots + S(e_k,e_k)\) for an orthonormal basis \(\{e_1,\dots,e_k\}\) of \(L\), where \(S\) is the Ricci tensor of \(M\). It is independent of the choice of this basis. The new Riemannian invariant is \[ \sigma(n_1,\dots,n_k)=\tau-\frac{(n-1)\inf(\sum^k_{j=1}(n_j-1)S(L_j))}{(n-1)(n-2)+\sum^k_{j=1}n_j(n_j-1)}, \] where \(L_1,\dots,L_k\) are as above. In general, \(\delta\)-invariant and the \(\sigma\)-invariant are different. For example, \[ \delta(3)=\tfrac 12 (n-2)(n-3), \quad \sigma(3)=\frac{(n-3)^2(n^2-2n+1)}{2(n^2-3n+8)} \] for \(M=S^{n-2}(1)\times E^2\); here \(k=1\), \(n_1=3\). In the present paper a general inequality is established for a conformally flat \(n\)-manifold isometrically immersed in a Riemannian \(m\)-manifold of constant sectional curvature \(c\): \[ \sigma(n_1,\dots,N_k)\leq \alpha (n_1,\dots,n_k)H^2+\beta(n_1,\dots,n_k)c, \] where \(\alpha\) and \(\beta\) are certain functions of \(n_1,\dots,n_k\), given explicitly, and \(H^2\) is the squared mean curvature. Also the equality case is characterized. Note that a classification of conformally flat submanifolds in Euclidean spaces satisfying the equality case for \(\sigma(2)\) was obtained in a preprint by Chen and Garay. An example is given showing that this inequality does not hold in general for arbitrary submanifolds. As application is established that if for a conformally flat \(M\) there exists a \(k\)-tuple \((n_1,\dots,n_k)\) such that \(\sigma(n_1,\dots,n_k)>0\) at some point in \(M\), then \(M\) does not admit any minimal isometric immersion into a Euclidean space with arbitrary codimension.