Submanifolds with restrictions on extrinsic \(q\)-th scalar curvature (Q995398)

The author considers \(n\)-dimensional submanifolds \(N\) of \((n+p)\)-dimensional Riemannian manifolds \(M\). The extrinsic sectional curvature \(K_h\) of \(N\) is defined as \(K_h(\sigma) = \langle h(x,x), h(y,y)\rangle - \| h(x,y)\| ^2\), where \(h\) is the second fundamental form of \(N\), \(\sigma\) is a 2-dimensional plane tangent to \(N\) and \((x, y)\) an orthonormal frame of \(\sigma\). The extrinsic \(q\)-th scalar curvature \(\tau_h^q\) (\(2\leq q\leq n\)) of \(N\) is given by \(\tau _h^q (V) = 2\sum _{i < j} K_h(x_i\wedge x_j)\), where \(V\) is a \(q\)-dimensional subspace of \(T_m N\) (\(m\in N\)) and \((x_1, \ldots , x_q)\) its orthonormal frame. The asymptotic index of \(N\) at \(m\) is defined as the dimension of a maximal asymptotic subspace \(T\) of \(T_mN\) (\(h(x,x) = 0\) for all \(x\in T\)). Similarly, the relative nullity index of \(N\) at \(m\) is defined as the dimension of the subspace of \(T_mN\) consisting of all vectors \(x\in T_mN\) for which \(h(x, \cdot) = 0\). (1) Given some estimates for \(\tau _h^q\) and other (rather technical) geometric invariants of \(h\), some estimates for asymptotic and nullity indices are provided. (2) If \(N = N_1\times N_2\) is a Riemannian product satisfying some estimates for \(\tau ^q_{N_i}\) (\(i = 1,2\)), it is shown that \(N\) cannot be isometrically immersed into a round sphere of a suitable dimension and radius. (3) An analogous result for isometric immersions of \(N= N_1\times N_2\) into space forms of some (possibly negative) curvature \(C\) is obtained.