Biharmonic hypersurfaces with constant scalar curvature in space forms

Abstract: Let

M^{n}

be a biharmonic hypersurface with constant scalar curvature in a space form

m a t h b b M^{n + 1} (c)

. We show that

M^{n}

has constant mean curvature if

c > 0

and

M^{n}

is minimal if

c l e q 0

, provided that the number of distinct principal curvatures is no more than 6. This partially confirms Chen's conjecture and Generalized Chen's conjecture. As a consequence, we prove that there exist no proper biharmonic hypersurfaces with constant scalar curvature in Euclidean space

m a t h b b E^{n + 1}

or hyperbolic space

m a t h b b H^{n + 1}

for

n < 7

.

Review text

A map \(\varphi : (M^n, g) \to (N^m, h)\) between Riemannian manifolds is called \textit{biharmonic} if it is a critical point of the bienergy functional \[ E_2(\varphi) = \frac{1}{2}\int_M |\tau(\varphi)|^2\, dv, \] where \(\tau(\varphi) = \operatorname{trace} \nabla d\varphi\) is the tension field of \(\varphi\). The notion of biharmonic maps is a generalization of harmonic maps in the sense that a biharmonic map is automatically harmonic, but not the converse in general. An immersion \(\varphi : (M^n, g) \to (N^m, h)\) is biharmonic if its mean curvature vector field \(\vec{H}\) satisfies \[ \Delta \vec{H} + \operatorname{trace} R^N (d\varphi, {\vec H}) d\varphi =0. \] In Euclidean spaces, \textit{B.-Y. Chen} [Soochow J. Math. 17, No. 2, 169--188 (1991; Zbl 0749.53037)] defined the notion of biharmonic submanifolds, and both biharmonic submanifolds and biharmonic immersions in Euclidean spaces coincide with each other. And in this direction, there is a conjecture due to Chen which says that every biharmonic submanifold in Euclidean space is minimal. The main result in this paper is related to the conjecture. There are many partial affirmative answers for this conjecture. Among them, it was proved recently in [\textit{Y. Fu}, Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 143, No. 12, 5399--5409 (2015; Zbl 1327.53069)] that a biharmonic hypersurface with constant scalar curvature in the \(5\)-dimensional space form \({\mathbb M}^5(c)\) necessarily has constant mean curvature. In this paper, the authors prove that if \(M^n\) is an orientable biharmonic hypersurface with at most six principal curvatures in \({\mathbb M}^{n+1}(c)\) and has constant scalar curvature, then \(M\) has constant mean curvature. This result also gives a partial answer to a conjecture proposed in [\textit{A. Balmus} et al., Isr. J. Math. 168, 201--220 (2008; Zbl 1172.58004)]. The biharmonic equation can be written as follows \[ \Delta H + H \operatorname{trace}A^2 = nc H,\quad 2A \nabla H + nH \nabla H = 0, \] where \(H\) is the mean curvature and \(A\) is the Weingarten operator. So, from the main result in this paper under review, one can conclude that any biharmonic hypersurface with constant scalar curvature and with at most six principal curvatures in Euclidean space \({\mathbb E}^{n+1}\) or in hyperbolic space \({\mathbb H}^{n+1}\) is minimal.

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