Bernstein-Heinz-Chern results in calibrated manifolds (Q986622)

The main purpose of this paper is to extend to the class of submanifolds with parallel mean curvature in calibrated manifolds, in a unified way, the problem started by Heinz (1955), Chern (1965) and Flanders (1966) of estimating an upper bound for the infimum of the norm of the mean curvature of a graphic hypersurface \(\Gamma_f=(x,f(x))\) in Euclidean spaces. This upper bound was given by the isoperimetric ratio \(\frac{1}{m}\frac{A(\partial B_r)}{V(B_r)} =\frac{1}{r}\) for functions \(f\) defined on a ball \(B_r\) of \(\mathbb{R}^m\) of radius \(r\). The authors obtain a similar isoperimetric inequality on domains of a submanifold with parallel mean curvature immersed in a calibrated manifold. Such type of inequality was previously obtained by the second author in [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 107, No.~2, 449--458 (1989; Zbl 0681.53031)] for submanifolds of products of Riemannian manifolds \((M\times N, g_1\times h)\) defined by the graph of a map \(f:D\subset M^m\to N\) on a domain \(D\) obtaining \(\|H\|\leq \frac{1}{m}\frac{A_1(\partial D)}{V_1(D)}\). This example is in the context of submanifolds in calibrated manifolds for \(M\times N\) is the simplest example of a calibrated manifold. For the general case of a calibrated Riemannian manifold \((\bar{M}, \bar{g})\) with a parallel \(m\)-calibration \(\Omega\), if \(F:M\to \bar{M}\) is an immersed \(m\)-dimensional submanifold with parallel mean curvature \(H\), and if \(\cos\theta =\Omega(X_1,\dots,X_m)>\tau>0\) (\(X_i\) is an orthonormal frame of \(TM\) and \(\tau\) a constant), the authors obtain \(\|H\|\leq (1/m)({\sqrt{1-\tau^2}}/{\tau}) h(M)\), where \(h(M) =\inf_D A(\partial D)/V(D)\) is the Cheeger constant of \(M\). In the case that the Cheeger constant vanishes, \(H=0\) must hold. The proof uses a vector field \(Z\) on \(M\) defined by \(g(Z,X)=\Omega(H,*X)\) for all \(X\in TM\), where \(g\) is the induced metric on \(M\) and \(*X\) is the star operator on \(TM\). Since \(\|Z\|\leq \sin\theta \|H\|\), and \(\text{div}(Z)=-m\cos\theta \|H\|^2 \), integration of the previous equation on a domain \(D\) gives the desired isoperimetric inequality on \(D\). If \(\mathrm{Ricci}^M\geq 0\), then fixing a point \(x_0\) there exists a constant \(C_1\) such that the inequality \(h(B_r)\leq C_1/r\) holds for geodesic balls of center \(x_0\) and any radius \(r\). In this case, it is possible to relax the assumption \(\cos\theta>\tau>0\) to a weaker condition \(\cos\theta\geq Cr^{-\beta}\) holding on \(B_r\) when \(r\to +\infty\), where \(C>0\) and \(0<\beta<1\) are constants. The authors also use an expression for \(\Delta \cos\theta\) to conclude that the submanifold is totally geodesic under suitable additional conditions on the curvature of the ambient space, on a certain positiveness on a quadratic operator (that depends on \(\Omega\)) acting on the second fundamental form, and integrability of \(\tan\theta \|B\|\). This can be translated to Bernstein-type results for graphic submanifolds in \(M\times N\) under suitable curvature conditions of \((M,g_1)\) and \((N,h)\), and if \(\dim(N)\geq 2\), under the assumption \(f^*h<(1-\delta)g_1\). For minimal graphic hypersurfaces of a Euclidean space, it is sufficient to assume integrability of \(\sin\theta \|B\|\) to conclude that \(M\) is a linear hyperplane. Other examples are given for the Kähler calibration and the quaternionic-Kähler calibration. If \(\bar{M}\) is an \((m+n)\)-dimensional Riemannian space \(\bar{M}=\cup_y M_y\) foliated by \(m\)-dimensional leaves, then a pre-calibration \(\Omega\) is defined by the volume element of the vertical leaves. It is then necessary to study which conditions \(\Omega\) must satisfy in order that the leaves are minimal. The authors prove that \(\Omega\) is closed if and only if the leaves are minimal (and consequently are minimally stable) and the horizontal space defines an integrable distribution, and that \(\Omega\) is a parallel calibration if and only if the leaves and the horizontal integrable submanifolds are all totally geodesic. In case \(n=1\), if the leaves are minimal, then they are stable, and are totally geodesic if the unit normal \(\bar{X}\) to the leaves satisfies \(\bar{\nabla}_{\bar{X}} \bar{X}=0\). This is the case when for some function \(f\) on \(\bar{M}\) constant along each leave, \(f\bar{X}\) defines a Killing vector field on \(\bar{M}\). If \(G\) is a Lie group, any smooth map \(f:M\to G\) that defines a minimal graphic submanifold \(\Gamma_f\) of \(M\times G\) defines a foliation of the product \(M\times G\) given by the minimal graphic submanifolds \(\Gamma_{af}\), where \(a\in G\). The corresponding calibration is closed if \(-df^t:Lie(G)\to C^{\infty}(TM)\) is a Lie algebra homomorphism. In the general case of any Riemannian foliated space \(\bar{M}\), the authors generalize some results of \textit{J. L. M. Barbosa, G. P. Bessa} and \textit{J. F. Montenegro} in [Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 144, No.~2, 457--464 (2008; Zbl 1141.53052)], and of \textit{J. L. M. Barbosa, K. Kenmotsu} and \textit{G. Oshikiri} in [Math. Z. 207, No.~1, 97--107 (1991; Zbl 0731.53033)] to any codimension. Assuming the horizontal space is integrable and \(\bar{M}\) is closed, and if the mean curvature of the leaves defines a divergence free vector field along each horizontal integrable submanifold of \(\bar{M}\), the authors conclude that the leaves must be minimal (and so \(\Omega\) is closed). Furthermore, if the mean curvature of the horizontal integrable submanifolds (horizontal leaves) defines a divergence free vector field along the vertical leaves, then the horizontal leaves are minimal as well. If the Ricci tensor of \(\bar{M}\) is nonnegative and the scalar curvatures of the vertical leaves are nonpositive, then the horizontal leaves are totally geodesic and the Ricci tensor of \(\bar{M}\) vanishes in the direction of the vertical leaves and the later ones have zero scalar curvature. Similar results are obtained under the assumption of nonpositive scalar curvature of the horizontal leaves, or under weaker assumptions on the scalar curvature of the ambient space and of the vertical and horizontal leaves. The authors also obtain an isoperimetric inequality for immersed submanifolds of a Riemannian manifold \(\bar{M}\) endowed with a strongly convex vector field \(\bar{X}\) given by \((\sup_M \|\bar{X}_F\|)^{-1}\leq \frac{1}{\alpha}(\frac{1}{m}h(M)+ \sup_M\|H\|)\). A strongly convex vector field satisfies \(L_{\bar{X}}\bar{g}\geq 2\alpha \bar{g}\) where \(\alpha>0\) is a constant. In this case, if \(M\) is minimal and has zero Cheeger constant, then \(\bar{X}_F\) is unbounded. Applying to the case when \(\bar{M}\) is a Euclidean space and \(\bar{X}\) is the position vector field, this amounts to say that minimal submanifolds with zero Cheeger constant are unbounded.