UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS MINIMAL SUBMANIFOLDS IN A RIEMANNIAN MANIFOLD by S.S. Chern Technical Report 19 (New Series) Reprodnetion in whole or in part is permitted for any purppse of the United States Government Research done under NSF Grant GP-3460 Noveniter, 1966UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS MINIMAL SUBMANIFOLDS IN A RIEMANNIAN MANIFOLD by S.S. Chern Technical Report 19 (New Series) Reproduction in whole or in part is permitted for any purppse of the United States Government Research done under NSF Grant GP-3460 Lawrence, Kansas November, 19689.) 420.172.6 (19) HARVARD \ UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Mai 19-1909) Gi ie §1. 82. 53. $4. 85. $6. a7. $8. 89. TABLE OF CONTENTS Review of Riemannian Geometry ‘The first variation Minimal submanifolds in euclidean space Minimal surfaces in euclidean space Minimal submanifolds on the sphere Laplacian of the second fundamental form Inequality of Simons ‘The second variation Minimal cones in euclidean space u 19 29 36 38 44 49NOTATION The ambient riemannian manifold will denoted by XN or x, of dimension N. In most cases it will be the euclidean space EN. or the unit sphere SN in EN *!, phe immersed manifold or sub- manifold will bé given by M"— Xx, where M™ or M is of dimension n. We will set N#n¢p, so that p is the codimension of M in X. All manifolds are C™ and connected. The following ranges of indices will be used throughout this paper: 15 A,B,C,... SN=ntp, 154,j,k,2,m,... 32, nt1sa,By,...¢ntp. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT These notes are based on lectures delivered at the University of Kansas in October 1968. The author wishes to thank Professors N, Aronszajn and B, Price for their invitation and continued interest.$1. Review of Riemannian Geometry. Our aim is to study the minimal submanifolds in a Riemannian mani- fold. We begin by a review of Riemannian gecmetry, using the method of moving frames. Let X be a C™ Riemannian manifold of dimension N,i.e., there is given in each tangent space T,, x€X, a positive definite scalar product which varies ina C® manner with x. The scalar product we will denote by (En), &n€T,. We will suppose X oriented, and we will agree on the follow- ing range of indices: a 18A,B,C,... #N. By an orthogonal frame (or simply frame) e, is meant an ordered set of N vectors in the same tangent space T,, which defines the orientation of X and which satisfies the relations (2) (ass) = Sap: The frame €, defines uniquely a dual coframe og in the cotangent space 1M, and vice versa. Condition (2) is equivalent to the following expression of the element of arc: (3) as? = » wp. A The method of moving frames consists of developing the geometrical pro- perties of X by the use of a frame field 4 ( , x€U (= a neighborhood of X). The properties themselves will be independent of the choice of the frame field.‘The fundamental theorem of local Riemannian geometry is the following: |A) Inancighborhood U of X let 4 be a coframe field. There existe ‘uniquely a set of linear differential forms 4p satisfying the conditions: (4) nat pa 7% (5) da, » yaa, B We first prove the uniqueness. Suppose 'y, be a set of forms satisfy- ing the same conditions. Let Condition (5) implies dee Yar B By Carta $ lemma we must have °Ba » *Bac’C c where agac is symmetric in B,C. By (4), apac is antisymmetric in B, A. It follows that ag ,¢ = 0, which proves the uniqueness. ‘The existence is proven by solving the equations (4), (5). We leave it to the reader. The ©,5, are called the connection forms and allow the definition of co- variant differentiation. In fact, let 16) § > fata A be a vector field, We define its covariant differential to be @ DE >) DE, Bas A where (8) Peg = at) Eppa: B The vector field § is saidto be parallel along a curve, if Dé Under a parallelism the scalar product of two vector fields is preserved, as readily verified. For the vectors ©, themselves equations (7) gives 9 =o (9) De, =) ean Oey: B The covariant differentiation can be defined for tensor fields of higher order. For definiteness let 10 (10) T > Tancta®en®?c: A,B,C be a tensor field of order 3. We define Wy = a pr > DT ppc 8? .O°RO g- A,B,C where 12) DT agg = aT o, = (2) DT anc = aTagct Trpc’Ea +) Tanctes . > Tanz*nc* E E E T m > ABC, E°E (say) E The Tayo, 2F¢ called the covariant derivatives of T and define a tensor field of order 4. The exterior differentiation of equations (5) gives (3 ea ) > prea = 9 B wheregat wey, aa) Qa qt dogg), ©pc*’ca ~~ Rpace*c**E S are exterior differential forms of degree two. The coefficients Rance satisfy the symmetry relations Us) Rapce ~ “Rpace ~ “RaBec’ and,as a consequence of (13), also the relations (26) RapcEe 2 Races *Rappe * oy From (15) and (16) one derives 2) Rasce ~ Rcran’ ‘The tensor field R is called the Riemann- Christoffel tensor; it gives ‘ABCE all the localproperties of the Riemannian metric. From Rapcy the Ricci tensor and the scalar curvature are defined respectively by (18) Rap * Rpa* ») Racse’ c a9) R= > Rae z For N = 2 we have (20) R= 2K, when K is the gaussian curvature. From the second covariant derivatives of a tensor field T we can define ite Laplacian which is a tensor field of the same order. For example, if T is given by (10), its Laplacian has the components (21) (a Tape . > TABC,E,E’ = In particular, if u: U-+R is a C™-function, we set (22) au) upMas (23) Duy = 4uq +), 5B"), Mapes’ and the Laplacian Au: UDR is given by (24) Awe) ogy: A We also define (25) [grad u[? » 2, x which is the square of the length of the gradient vector of u. If g{u) is a smooth function of u, the following formula is immediately verified: (26) ‘Av(u) = o'(u)Au + 9"(u) [grad ul* Let M be a C™- manifold of dimension n and let f: Mox be a differentiable immersion, By imposing on M the induced metric we can suppose M to be Riemannian and f to be an isometric immersion. We will denote by p=.N-n the codimension and agree in addition to (1), the following ranges of indices: (27) 14i,j,k,... enjntleaBy,...2n4p. If TX denotes the tangent bundle of X, its induced bundle over M splits into a direct sum: (28) e(TX) = TM@ (TMwhere TM and (TM)* are respectively the tangent bundle and normal bundle It is a normal vector field over M. M is called a minimal submanifold if H=0. Iti ic if 7 = =1 there noti of M. We restrict to a neighborhood of M and consider @ frame field 44(m),m a Bipencoted totally geodesic at Az te Bos a=. tt sonal of the bundle (TX) such that 1,(m) are tangent vectors and 4,(m) are coincide and minimal submanifolds of dimension 1 are precisely the geodesics. normal vectors at m. Let 4,9, be the forms previously denoted by ©, ,5 relative to this particular frame field. Then we have (29) Taking its exterior derivative and making one of (5), we get (30) > 00,4 =0 By Cartan's lemma we have (31) where (32) ‘The form (33) O=), A6ty where > By aij" ij (34) is called the cond fundamental form of M in X. It describes the simplest metrical properties of M as a submanifold of X. The mean curvature vector is defined by (35) a) het he42, The first variation. We follow the notations of $1. If M is compact, possibly with bound- ary, its total volume is given by the integral a vel as M 1 We apply a variation of M as follows: Let I be the interval -y aye, at t= 0 will be called the deformation vector. We write the operator d on MxI as a (3) ded tdts . From (1. 5)* we get ay a) alors. ae) =) 9 @ where (5) * (1.5) means formula (5) in §1; the same notation will be used throughout. Substituting into (4) the expression in (2), we get, as its two sides, 4-1 LHS = dfayn...A0, tata) (-1* a8 AB, ACA AOL} T RHS = aay, aoe a where (6) my, Equating the terms in dt, we get m FF wa ft int BE (AAG) = ayy D(a A. AO, WAG AL -ABRE). 8, Bg: i a Integrating over M and setting t = 0, we find the first variation of volume: a vi(0) = 3t f BYA..AB, M $3 ake LF ae aM i (8) (AB, ABA ARR where we set t = 0 in the integrands of the last two integrals. The second term at the right-hand side of (8) vanishes if a;(m, +) =0, m€M, t = 0, i.e., if the deformation vector is orthogonal to M along the boundary aM. This condition is a fortiori satisfied if the boundary aM remains fixed. The first integral is zero for arbitrary a, if and only if H,=0, which is the condition for M to be a minimal submanifold. Hence we have the theorem:-10- A) A minimal submanifold of a riemanniam manifold is locally char- acterized by the property that a piece of it has a stationary volume under de- formations with its boundary fixed. =u §3. Minimal submanifolds in euclidean space. We study first the case when the ambient space X is the euclidean space EN of dimension N. In this case the space has a global parallelism and all the tangent spaces can be identified with EN itself, If xe, denotes an orthonormal frame, x being the origin, the connection forms can be defined by the equations a Let be an immersed submanifold of dimension n, so that , tom€M, x(m) is the pos- ition vector of the image point. Locally over M we choose a frame field x(m)e,(m) so that e,(m) are tangent vectors to x(M) at x(m). Then we can write oe > 88% (3) De, ae), 04j8¢, > 8; Bey ij a a=), aij * Dap 6 ‘Our notations and ranges of indices are consistent with those of the last two sections. Let a! be a fixed vector in EN, ‘The function (a,x), when restricted to M, is the height function in the direction of a'. From (3) we havesige ala, x) Dia, e,) = 2 (aegig= 2 fase dh,ai85- @ ai It follows from the definition of the Laplacian that a) Aare) =) (areglhyg: = ala), where H is the mean curvature vector. This gives the theorem: A) An immersed submanifold of dimension > 0 in euclidean space is a minimal submanifold if and only if all the coordinate functions are harmonic functions relative to the induced metric. Hence there is no compact minimal submanifold (of dimension > 0 ) without boundary in euclidean space The last statement follows from the fact that a harmonic function on a compact Riemannian manifold without boundary must be constant. (Our man- ifolds are always supposed to be connected. } The curvature of M can be calculated from (1.14), which gives in this d If we denote by S,,,, the curvature tensor of the metric on M, we have there- case ee jaa Ly Miah jar ath jar) 9, kt (5) fore (6) (7) List which is negative semi-definite, and its scalar curvature is (8) s > ty 20 aij Hence we have: B) The Ricci tensor of a minimal submanifold M in the euclidean space is negative semi-definite. M is totally geodesic, and is therefore a linear sub- space if and only if its scalar curvature is zero. Remark. A minimal submanifold M—3EN js, according to the above, an isometric immersion of the Riemannian manifold M by means of its harmonic functions, Necessary conditias for such an immersion to exist are: 1) M be naveompact; 2) the Ricci tensor of M be negative semi-definite. Further necessary conditions are not known. ‘A related problem is the differentiable immersion in EN of a non-compact Riemannian manifold M by its harmonic functions. Of course a necessary condition is that M should have a Riemannian metric with a negative semi- definite Ricci tensor. I do not know whether there is any condition on the given Riemannian metric of M We now consider the special case of minimal hypersurface in EN, i.e., the case where the codimension p We will then write (9) h, intl, J sont = Dah. i Taking its exterior derivative and making use of (1.14), we get uy A (uy) > Dhyj~8; = 0 and we have (10)cade a Sy aN ‘ } It follows that the"'covariant derivatives" hy; are symmetric in j,k. Since hh; is symmetric in i,j, we see that hy, is symmetric in any two of the indices i,j,k. Therefore, if M is minimal, the contraction of hy, with respect to any two of its: indices is zero The vector e,.,, being one of the two unit normal vectors to M, we 1 wish to calculate (a, ¢,,,) by (3), a! being a fixed vector in el in fact, we have, (13) ala, egg) = =), Ryle eB and, by (3) and (12) by(as ep) = D rignl®e 2D, Pusha Pal ena: We have therefore, for a minimal hypersurface, the formula (14) AG, eng) = Slee, +1 +) nt] Let x,.++)x,nz be coordinates in E™*!, We consider minimal hyper- surfaces which can be represented by an equation of the form (5) B= xy. 25%, yall x, i.e., which have a one-one projection onto a hyperplane. The Bernstein problem is to ask whether such a minimal hypersurface is always a hyper- plane, i.e. , whether the function in (14) is necessarily linear. The answer is known to be affirmative in the following cases: n=2 , Bernstein 1914 n=3 , deGiorgi 1965 -18« n=4 , Almgren 1966 =5,6,7, Simons 1968. Our developments allow us to give a geometrical proof of the classical Bernstein theorem. Unlike most known proofs, no complex function theory” will be used. C) (Bernstein's theorem). Let (15a) 2 = 2x, %)) be 2 minimal surface in E*, which is defined for all x,x,. Then 2q,x,) is a linear function. We put (16) n+), p22 20, i P so that the unit normal vector e_,, has the components ns i ntl If a! is the unit vector along the z-axis, we have (7) (eng) The proof of C) depends on the identity (as) Alogi +p) =K, where K =} is the Gaussian curvature of M. In fact, (14) gives 1; 2K Alyy) = ae Now , for n = 2,we have et " =e] = (9) Dd ryhue= Koper 8 i From (13) and (19) we get (20) |graa |? = > yjigl@s elas ey, ijk -K) tareg? = -xu-tz) 7164 Formula (18) then follows immediately from (1.26). To complete the proof of C) consider on M the new metric (2) ag = (1+ yids, where ds is the metric induced by the immersion M-+E?, Since ds is complete, it is clear that do = ds is complete. By (18) the Gaussian curv- ature of dg is zero,i.e., do is a flat metric. By a well-known theorem in Riemannian geometry, M, with its metric dg, is isometric to the (£,)- plane with its standard flat metric, i.e (22) dg” = de? + dn’. Since K 0 and since A differs from the operator (37/32) + (3°/3n%) by a positive factor, we have 2 2 ag ray 1 log (L4u) 20. Sere) toe Uwe. The function log(1 + (1/W)), considered as a function in the (£,7)-plane, is non-negative and superharmonic. Hence it must be constant (10, p. 130]. 71 implies in turn that K = 0. By B) M must bea plane. Thus the proof of C) complete. Remark, The above argument can also be completed by observing that the function -(1/W) in (17) is a negative solution of the equation (14). Since S = 0, (14) implies that -(1/W) is subharmonic. Hence -(1/W) constant and C) follows. ‘This suggests the problem: On a simply-connected complete Rie- mannian manifold M with negative semi-definite Ricci tensor consider the equation (23) du = Su, -7- when S £0 is the scalar curvature. Does (23) have a non-constant positive solution? The above arguments show that a negative answer to this question will imply the Bernstein conjecture for all dimensions. To understand the analytical implication of the condition of a min- imal hypersurface we will derive the differential equation for the hyper- surface (15) to be minimal. By the notation in (16) the induced metric on M is (24) as* > ax? +p ax, or (25) ds 8, ja, where (26) 8; The elements of its inverse matrix are (27) By (3) we see that the second fundamental form can be written 1 ~B) een, 0 e trace ng] should hav i: io S - i 1 (28) #4 = -(dx, dey) = =), dear) + ded ( The condition for a minimal hypersurface is that © zero. It can therefore be written Aj (29) > Pye? = 2 where f 2, (30) P= 2sigs By (27) equation (29) can be put in the form om ae) = eo) Da bso ad Equation (29) or (31) is therefore the equation of a non-parametric minimal hypersurface. -19- §4. Minimal surfaces in euclidean space [3]. A submanifold of dimension two will be called a surface. If it is oriented, a paramount fact is that a Riemannian structure on it has an underlying complex structure and makes it into a Riemann surface. Its study will be facilatated by the use of results of complex function theory. Let M be an oriented surface with the Riemannian metric W as? = 9)? bob = cd, where (2) a= 6, +10, Suppose it be oriented that (3) Locally there is a complex coordinate 2 =x + iy such that (4) a=hdz, .#0 The coordinate z is defined up to a holomorphic transformation 6) st = at(2), with ((d2*)/(dz))# 0 and makes M into a Riemann surface. The metric (1) can be written © ds” = |,|2azaz = ||*ax? + ay”), and x,y, are called the isothermal coordinates. Let 7) x: MEN, Neztp be an immersed oriented surface. Let Gz, be the Grassmann manifold: °f all oriented two-dimensional planes through the origin 0 of EN. the202 Gauss mapping (8) & M—Gr, is defined by the condition that g(m), m€M, is the oriented plane through 0 parallel to the tangent plane to x(M) at x(m). Now Gr, has a natural complex structure defined as follows: Suppose the two-plane be spanned by the vectors &,7 ( in that order, as the plane is oriented), satisfying (9) (8,8) = (nen) = 1, (8,n) = 0. The vectors €,1 are defined up to a rotatior if §',m' are vectors defining the same oriented plane and satisfying conditions analogous to (9), we have €! tin! = (expip) (E+ in), o real. Extending the scalar product over complex vectors,we have, using (9), (10) (g+in€ +i = 0 Regarding € + in as the homogenous coordinates of a point in the complex projective space P,,,,(C) of complex dimension p +1, equation (10) defines a non-singular hyperquadric. It can be verified that our mapping defines a diffeomorphism of Gr, with the hyperquadric (10). Identification of the two spaces gives rise to a complex structure on Gr, To describe the complex structure analytically we consider frames eq and put wy so that the two-plane is spanned by the first two vectors of the frame. Writ Sais we have (a3) ale, + ie) = ~i%,@(e, + ie) +) (4, ,* iw, )@e,. Thus %,, +8), are the forms of type (1, 0) on Gr, Similarly, using (3.3), we have de, + ie 2) =-i8, 2@le, + ie.) +) (8)q tie )@eq which are now equations in M relative to a local frame field defined in §3. Using (4) ij = Yai we find 5) B10 FQ = Cy gy * Hh gg) -A%) + Hy gy + By Q2)0- ‘This gives the theorem A) M is a minimal surface in EN ig and only if the Gauss mapping is anti-holomorphic Since M and Gr, are both complex manifolds, a continuous mapping M—>Gr,, is holomorphic (resp. anti-holomorphic) if locally the mapping is defined by expressing the local coordinates of the image point as holomorphic functions of the local coordinates (resp. of their conjugate complex coordin- ates) of the original point. Since M is complex one-dimensional, its image g(M) can be viewed as an anti -holomorphic curve on Gr We can write (16) ax=0 6, 47Bey=F10, + 10 ,)B(e,-He,) + Ho, is ,)@(e, + ie,). Using the complex structure on M, we get2oa= 1 7 (7) ax = 7 (8, + i8,) @ (e,-ie,). Since the components of x are harmonic functions, we have (18) lax) which means that 4x are abelian differentials on M. From 9x we recover x by the Weierstrass formula (9) x = 2Re\ dx. We will write out this formula more explicitly relative to a complex coordinate ¢ on M. We put (20) ax = y(C)dC,, where y(¢) is holomorphic in ¢. Since y(¢) is a multiple of e yrieg, it satisfies the conditions (21) (y(G), vig) = (y@), HC) # 0, where the scalar products im questionare extensions of that in E“*P to complex vectors. An application of the Weierstrass formula (19) is to derive examples of complete minimal surfaces. Suppose, for definiteness, that p = 2q-1 be odd. Set wy AHECPAY, yg = AQ HCP rpg age CT, (22) pH, Se P, Pi -1_ Hl, aL COs V4 = 48Q6 PD --r¥9q = tage? Yagtt = 2aq6% where a, are non-zero constants satisfying -23- 2 es (23) afte. tal =o, then equations (21) are satisfied. Substituting (22) into (19) and (20), we get acemplete minimal surface which is at the same time a simply-con- nected real rational algebraic surface of order (pt2)”. This will be called the Enneper surface. In many ways it is the minimal surface with the 'simplest" properties A minimal surface with the same Gauss map can be obtained by multi- plying the vector y(¢) by e'°, where a is a real constant. Two such min- imal surfaces are said to be associated. For example, the helicoid and the catenoid in gE are associated minimal surfaces. By (3.8) and the fact that the Gaussian curvature K = (S/2), we have oe ae 2 (24) Ke » (nga, BP a)s : Fe that The integral (26) com = J Kano, <0 M will be called the total curvature of M; it could be -co. On Gr, an hermitian metric can be defined by (27) dg? = » (yg + Ho, Ne, -H0, 0) Tn fact, this makes Gr, into a symmetric hermitian manifold; its Kahler form is 28) a. (0, iw. (w, iw, i Aw. 2°) BD Wg tpg) yy 2a) = 7, 1a 20 @ a-24- Its integral over a holomorphic curve y (resp. an anti-holomorphic curve) is called the area (resp. the negative of area) of y. The above discussion gives the theorem: B) The total curvature of a minimal surface in E**P is equal to the negative of the area of its image under the Gauss map. Consider now the classical case p in E*. Then Gr, is a conic in the complex projection plane. By stereo- , i.e., a minimal surface graphic projection from a point of the conic, the latter can be identified with the complex projective line P,(C), which in turn can be identified with the unit sphere in E?, This explains the relation between our Gauss map and the classical one. However, even in the classical case, our definition is analytically more advantageous. The classical Bernstein theorem was generalized by R, Osserman to the following geometrical form: Let x: M—?E? be a complete minimal surface, and let gi M—+Gr, = P,(C) be its Gauss map. If AMT# Gr, x(M) is a plane. In this formulation the problem becomes a study of the image g(M), and its "equidistribution"! Jn the general case we consider Gz, to be imbedded in P, 41(6) (to be abbreviated to P,,,) and we wish to study the relative position of g(M) with respect to the hyperplanes of P,4,, This is a problem on value dis- tribution in complex function theory. A classical theorem of E. Borel can be stated as follows: Let M-—>P,,,, be a holomorphic curve which does not lie in a hyperplane of P.,,. Suppose M be conformally equivalent to the com- plexline C. To any p+3 hyperplanes in P, ,, in general position, the image g(M) meets one of them. =28= Let P&,, be the dual projective space of P,4,, i.e., the space of all its hyperplanes. Then Borel's theorem has the consequence that the setof hyperplanes having a non-void intersection with g(M) is dense in o ot 24 In our case of a minimal surface M in E**P we can, without loss of generality, take M tobe simply-connected by replacing it by its universal covering surface. The question of its type is decided by the following lemma: C) Let M be a non-compact simply-connected complete two-dimen- sional Riemannian manifold. Suppose there be a function u = € = constant > 0 satisfying (29) Alogu=K, where K is the gaussian curvature. Then M is conformally equivalent to the gaussian plane. By the uniformization theorem fr simply connected Riemann surfaces we suppose M_ to be conformally the disk |¢|< R00, and we shallprove that R= 0. Let ds =\|d{|. The hypothesis says that Jog(ud) is harmonic. Let v(¢) be its conjugate harmonic function. Then c f elogtu)Hivge 0 w = F(C) satisfies |w!| =u #0. In a neighborhood of we = F(0) we can define a branch of the inverse 1 function ¢ = F"\(w). We wish to show that this branch can be extended to the whole w-plane. In fact, suppose C be a circle about we beyond which the function F"(w) cannot be continued analytically. There must be a Point w,€C, which is a singularity of Fw). w, cannot be an algebraic 1266 branch point since F'(¢) is never zero, Thereforethe line segment y from we to w, must correspond to an arc going to the boundary of M. Its length is fas=f lel buvel co, a € which contradicts the completeness of M. Therefore F”(w) defines an analytic map of the whole w-plane onto |¢| < R and R =o. The following theorem can be considered a geometrical generalization N, of Bernstein's theorem to minimal surfaces in E’ D) (Density theorem) Let x: M—sEN = p#2) be a complete min- imal surface which is not a plane. Let g: M—»Gr cP, , be the Gauss pt map. Then the hyperplanes of P_,, which meet g(M) form a dense sub- set in the dual space P* » the set g(M) is dense in Gr, The last statement is the assertion of the Bernstein-Osserman theore p+l To prove the theorem let w, be homogeneous coordinates in P, 1, In the set P-L and let L be the hyperplane with the equation w, ait TE on) Hen} On and the expression atthe right-hand side remains invariant when the w, 1 we have (30) are multiplied by a common factor. <27< Putting L (30) wae wa/ (Daa) we have and (32) Since Ew, can be considered as the components of.e, + ie). It follows from (13) 2 that Xn aut = Dd axs awe, = B Since the Gauss map g is anti-holomorphic, the operator 35 goes into ‘38 under g, so that if the function sy w,W,/w,w, is considered tobe on M, A Bre (waren basal we have + iKeAe,- Using isothermal coordinates, we get easily (33) aoe: 1 N Provided that g(M)NL = 9. To complete the proof of the density theorem suppose the assertion ruc. Our assumption implies that there exists a neighborhood in Py By taking the universial covering surface of M there is no loss H generality in supppsing M itself to be simply connected.-28- of a hyperplane, which we suppose to be L, such that all the corresponding hyperplanes do not meet g(M). It follows by an elementary geometrical argument that the function L [oy |? lz (34) u = wy |e thoy f on M is =€ fora positive constant €. By theorem C), M is conformally gaussian plane. Since M itself is not a plane, the image g(M) is not a point. Let P,, 0 0, it follows that the hyperplanes in P,,, which meet g(M) form a 41° But this contradicts our assumption, so that the dense subset of P* P firet statement in D) is proved. The second statement is proved similarly. -29- 5. Minimal submanifolds on the sphere. We consider a minimal submanifold 0) x: M™as?*Pcen tpt) where S"*P is a unit sphere of an euclidean space of one higher dimension. If e, is an orthonormal frame of tangent vectors to S"*P at x, xe, is A an orthonormal frame in E™*P*1, satisfying (2) 1 (4, €4) = 0, (e ‘a’®p) = Sap where the scalar product is defined for vectors in E"*P*}, From (2) we have eect A (3) de, = > @apOep sex B where (4) he expression at the right-hand side of this equation gives the curvature form of the Riemannian metric on S"*P. The components of the Riemann- Sacbsp fan's When the submanifold (1) is given, we choose, as usual, a frame field Se, ina neighborhood of M, such that e; are tangent vectors to M at x.a= =30- Equations (3), when restricted to this frame field, become (7) dx =) 8,e,: A = -( (tt follows that dey =) Man@ey 8 Ox, ‘ B < (13) Alx, a) = nla, H)-n(x, a), with (8) where H is the mean curvature vector. Hence we have: A) The submanifold (1) is a minimal submanifold on the sphere, The §, are connection forms of the induced metric on M, so that its 8 if and only if the functions (a, x) satisfy the differential equation curvature forms are 49, ») PA = “) Fa Aja9i09; K a (4) Alx,a) n(x, a) = 0. on s"*P there are compact minimal submanifolds without boundary. sf ' (9) ry (hai jar Piast jax) nO, 758° | The following are some examples: Ie do Example, The great n-sphere, which is totally geodesic. Its Riemann-Christoffel tensor has therefore the components Be asia 2. Weite E?*2 up a divect oth (19) FE) em? sett gst] vein, It follows that the Ricci tensor and scalar curvature are given respectively So that a vector of E™*? will be written uniquely as £,+5,, with gcE*#, by £,€85*). we define the scalar product in E" +? py 16) (2,48 g¢m tng) = Eyer) + Eye 7Q)s ay here the right-hand side is a sum of the scalar products in BT +}, pS*1 espectively. Let §, be an arbitrary unit vector in E,,) = 1,2. Then ‘We set 18) # 2282.4, > 0, will describe a submanifold M of dimension n on ntl if a2) =) Maj 2 0 4 atta aij ate so that g is the square of the norm of the second fundamental form. unit norma: x to a, isey,5-a 8, (ori normal vector to M at a) + a,5) eat 281 Fao, (0 its ntp+l Let a! bea fixed unit vector in E We consider the height ®sative), because the latter is orthogonal to df), df, and to af, +a,65. function (a,x) as a function on M. By (7) and (8), we geta -33- Consider the case of closed minimal hypersurfaces in St}, i. Hence a second fundamental form of M is the codimension p=1. As usual we write ~(dx, de aya, (las), 48,) -(a ceeu 2145 2))- (2) Ainthi On the other hand, the induced metric on M is nee and (7) gives 2 ds” = ay (ds), d8)) + ap(d5 5, 48,). (22) : It follows that M is a minimal submanifold, if and only if i] 2 2.5 whe as) ies °2 (23) yntl >» ° This gives examples where a product S"xS® of spheres is embedded as a As in (3.1l) exterior differentiation of (23) gives (24) Dd rayne, where (25) Daj; = ah; +) rghit +) raeig = Dae The covariant derivatives hj, are symmetric in any two of their indices. minimal submanifold of s****!, the case r = 5 =1 gives the Clifford sur- face on S?. In the general case we will call it the Clifford mi, imal hype: surface. Example 3, Let x,y,z be the coordinates in E?, where the sphere s* is defined by the equation a9) xeeyt ete, ; lence for M minimal the contraction of Baik is zero with respect to any It can be verified that the mapping Exactly the same calculation as in §3 gives (20) 13} 82182, Bey ug eB tat + y22n) 26) Blase, yy) * -olae, yy) here "a" is a fixed vector in E"*?, defines an isometric immersion of $* into the unit four-sphere $4 in ED. Suppose M be oriented, so that e, ,, is well-defined. The mapping Since the functions in (20) are homogeneous quadratic polynomials, the i nt ee 7 1 Ms mapping is two-to-one, and we have an imbedding of the real projective 2) ee plane in S* which is called a Veronese surface. As a consequence of (A) hich assigns to m€M the unit normal vector ¢, , ,(m) is called the Gauss this surface is a minimal surface of $4, a Then we have: B) Let M"—-s"*! be an oriented closedminimal hypersurface. If i nt) © image g(M") of the Gauss map belongs to an open hemisphere of $"*?, Example 4. Blaine Lawson has constructed closed orient able minimal surfaces of arbitrary genus in S? [7]-34- -35- ny M_ is totally geodesic. The condition for a minimal surface can be written (cf. (4.15): In fact, the hypothesis implies that there is a unit vector "a!" sat- a4 (30) Bebe , h=hy +ihp. isfying (a,¢, ,,) > 0. By (26) it follows that (a,¢, , )) is superharmonic. Inder a chi {the frame field both a an ill be multi Since M is compact, this is possible only when (a,¢, , )) = constant. Beet cennee © ae eo gee Soe neues oy Se same complex number of absolute value one. It follows that Fa = Ra” is in- We therefore have o = 0 and, by (12), hy, = 0. dependent of the: choice of the frame field and is a complex-valued Remark. It would be of interest to know whether a similar result is (ordinary) quadratic differential form defined over the surface. Locally true for arbitrary codimension p. In this case the Gauss map g: M—9Gr we write (cf. (4.4)) assigns to m€M the p-dimensional oriented subspace spanned by a= dz, “n+l pact (and oriented) and if there exists a constant decomposable p-vector A ++ &, 4 p(m), Gr being the Grassmamn manifold. If M is com- ntp Exterior differentiation of (30) and use of (29) such that dh + 2iha,, = 0, mod @. A ) > 0, (Arey gi Aen spl Exterior differentiation of (31) gives is M totally geodesic? Robert Reilly proved that the answer is yes, if 33) a) + in8,) = 0, mod dz. (Are, are Ae, ombining (32) and (33), we get 25 075) = 0. A basic problem on closed minimal submanifolds on the sphere is whether M™—»5"*! seo is totally geodesic if M is diffeomorphic to the sphere lence the coefficient i,” is holomorphic in z, When S* is considered as The answer is affirmative for n = 2, as given by the theorem: [1], [2] Riemann surface, Ba is a quadratic differential. From complex function ©) Let x: S*-+5? be a minimal surface on the unit sphereS?. Then leory the latter must be zero. This proves h= 0 and the minimal surface (82) is a great sphere on S°, To prove the theorem let (28) a=6,+i9 Then we have (29)=36- $6. Laplacian of the second fundamental form. Consider an isometric immersion o x: M™ 9x0 +P of riemannian manifolds. Let TX be the tangent bundle of X. Its induced bundle over M splits into a direct su: (2) x*(TX) = TM @(TM)", where the summands at the right-hand side are the tangent bundle and normal bundle of M respectively. The second fundamental form is a section of the bundle @) TM®TM@(TM)* and is symmetric in the first two factors. Relative to our usual choice of a frame field it has the components hj; We define its covariant derivatives big bY K K K Then h, .y, aF€ the components of a section of the bundle TM@TM@T(M)@(TM)". We define its covariant derivatives by: L L ca pik? pa) Pajne z ‘The Laplacian of digg is defined to be } We wish to establish "commutation formulas" for the differences I. For the results of 556,7,9, cf. [5], [1]. -37- Bi gjice We make the following assumptions for the rest of this section: 1) X is of constant sectional curvature C, i.e., 7 = = (7 Raspcp (6 achsp Sap ao) 2) M is a minimal submanifold, i.e., (8) 0 Miai i The first commutation formula is obtained by taking the exterior derivative of the equation (9) aa), ay by which the h,,; are defined. Under the hypothesis that X is of constant curvature this gives (10) Y Pm =0, from which it follows that qu) iE Bai Picky = ° Similarly, the second commutation formula is obtained by taking the exterior derivative of (4). It gives Der, A, a 0)) 8 Ae,tyh 08 +) > aj kaj’ 95 F/8, j iBtPipm « Lx} (eax 5 )#),( Ba pe hy 2yim »: ok pep > PpsPepe cam) 22 Sn’ Equating the coefficients of 9,06, at both sides, we get-38- Ay ajmt “Miajem = Drcasbps fen") Brat epe?spen -) spot ream \ Sy (a2) *D PcaiapiPspe)aPipmips) *aikpmbca -cl aj ir Pmajit * iat jm Miami Since M is a minimal submanifold, it follows from the definition (6) and the commutation formulas (Jl) and (12) that Sn, aj ~ 7, Piakjk K (13) . » bar pe hipy Dau pep Se If the codimension is 1, this simplifies to Ah, ao ( Sue ae 14) any = -( Dee ) By t hy, Kt We define (15) = > Figg O3igay! ipa : 2 16) < Dh, Dh> = » Hose Eo Like Then we can verify the formuls (a7) a( DP cajMiaje” ) = {eh ans +< Da, D> Jenene. It follows that if M is compact and without boundary, we have the integral formula (18) Jenansam = -( Dh, Dh > dm ¢ 0, M M where dm is the element of volume of M. -39- $7. Inequality of Simons. Let M"—+S"*P be an oriented minimal submanifold in the unit sphere. By (6.13) and (6.15) we have WM -= +) Por PcpePipitiay +), PiaxPepee pjPaj a We will estimate algebraically this quartic polynomial in h,,, in terms of co For this purpose we introduce the quantities 2) = h, hea.) (a) Sap » 9] ij 80 that (ogg) is a positive semi-definite symmetric matrix, and our ¢ defined in (5.12) is given by @) ° =) oa @ Ww 0. We also introduce the symmetric matrices (4) To a matrix A denote by N(A) the sum of squares of its elements. Then (1) can be written (6) -= > oeg-no + > NGI Hp-HeHt,). a8 a, 8 We have the following algebraic lemma: A) Let A,B be symmetric matrices. Then (6) N(AB-BA) = 2N(A)N(B). Uf A #0, B# 0, the equality sign in (6) holds if and only if there is an orthogonal matrix T such that ‘TAT, ‘TBT are scalar multiples of-40- o1 10 ” (eo) aces = glo) (augmented by zeros). Moreover, if A,,), = 1,2,3, are symmetric matrices such that - = PMU F123, NAA. -A AL) = 2NIAINIA,) «ou =, 203, 4 then one of them is zero. We observe first that N('TAT) = N(A), where T is any orthogonal matrix. By replacing A by ‘TAT (T orthogonal), we can suppose A to be diagonal, with the diagonal elements a,. Then we have 5 2 N(AB-BA) = ) bi (aj-a,)", if where B = (b,,). But Be sey 22 (aj-a,)” s 2a? + ag). It follows that N(AB-BA) = 2) B2.ta? + a2) s aN(AINIB). itk Suppose A¥0, B# 0 and that the equality sign holds in (6). Then all the above inequalities will be equalities and we get immediately 0 For definiteness suppose b,, #0. We see casily that 0 ata, =0. 3 Since A#0, we have a) #0, a) #0. But then by =O, (i,k) # (1, 2). On the other hand, it can be verified that the equality sign holds for the matrices (7). This proves the second statement in A). The third state- -41- ment also follows in an elementary way. We now make use of A) to give an estimate of the right-hand side of (5). By definition, we have Ww NUH) = 0 aa so that : ze - oop * 2) cactop ng. 4,8 a#p Since (agg) is positive semi-definite, we have Dee) cacpret a, Bp ap Newton's inequality gives It follows that -s (2- F)o?-n0. From (6.18) we get the equality of Simons: (8) {te po? aodam ee, Provided that M is compact. Formula (8) gives the theorem: B) Let M™_s5"*P be a closed minimal submanifold in the unit sphere. Then either M is totally geodesic or g = n/q, qa=2-4, or at some m€M, o(m) >n/q. : In fact, suppose o(m) < n/q for all méM. Then the integrand in (8) will be = 0, and it should vanish identically, i.e., ¢ = 0 or n/q. As a consequence of B) it would be of interest to study the min- i at imal submanifolds of S"*P with g =n/q. Next to the great spheres _—-42- these can be considered to be the "simplest" minimal submanifolds. Since 9 = constant, we have sy ZL, *iajPiaje ije By (6.17) this implies +< Dh, Dh> = 0, or = -< h, Ah > 0. Hence Dh = 0 or Baie We have the theorem: C) The Clifford minimal hypersurfaces and the Veronese surface in Examples 2,3, §5 are the only minimal submanifolds on the sphere n with ¢ = 2, orp a This theorem is a local theorem. For proof, cf. the paper of Chern-do Carmo-Kobayashi. In this connection the following problems seem to be of intorest: 1) Consider closed minimal submanifolds M"—4S"*P where s™*P is the unit sphere, such that ¢ is a constant. For given n and p what are the possible values of g? Theorem B) says that ¢ does not take value in the open interval 0 That is, let eel ij fg M'—9S"™" be closed minimal submanifolds with the same constant scalar curvature. Does there exist an isometry T is S®*! uch that g=T of?-44- ‘We follow the notation of §2 and we will find a formula for the second variation 2 q) vio) = Bs $5 at Mw ‘The analytical part consists of a computation of d@,, with 2, given by (2.5). Using (1. 5) we find easily that -d@, is equal to JY apne Aap aneig yarn 2 aie iat My ba ieh (2) : A prMp ), Ragegrey- Aut terms quadratic in ogy, 8 where ® Bop =), Pap T Substituting into @, the expressions (2.2), we can write (4) 2, =8 .+atra,, where ere yar i (5) i +) DY cava 98) 8 a AB AO ge Pn jFi By equating the terms involving dt in the equation for 4, we have re (6) “aubat ) + opp t By -45- where =) Rupa goa sng, 6 ) > agi TADS ABB AO; Aes AB, AB LNG, GA -A8 Bri svt a Taking the exterior derivative of the second equation of (2.2) and using (1.5), we get da nat de Fada (e,, +a, ee pt A% pe which gives (8) nay ag > tiPcaraiaP) +) app, Combining (6) and (8), we have a ree Fay'a: « = Bat day (D acta) *) aghe 9) (58 5q7%4 Qi Oy: ipa Suppose Mx0 be a minimal submanifold, so that a | = « t= 0 Differentiating (2.7) with respect to t and setting t = 0, we get vo) = ( 2 > yi} y (0) f at (ly aA AB AG A LAB AD. ae, (io) a #f DY temiernito PotD ade Mia @ Suppose the variation be normal and the boundary 3M of M be fixed, ive., (a)~46- Then we have veo) = f (v2 Jam + »s gba M oie < where dm =9%-..48,, is the volume element of M. On M we have | i > Bata = 2, Rap toaglaatp )8y*--* Ont < ap where ap * ), Pras ij For a normal vector field a, to M, which vanishes on the boundary 0M we have therefore the second variation f 0) ey (fgg t cgplagay am. M i,a a, B (a3) vi"(0) The a,, have a simple meaning. For, by (8), we have aay aya +) 20°80 -), Ria? ‘The left-hand side being the covariant differential of aj, a, are the co- variant derivatives of a,. Introducing the second covariant derivatives of aq by K and the Laplacian by (a6) ba, ater we denote the scalar product by rene ai -47- Since (as) a), aaet®s)=(), jt Jam, ire ira and since a, = 0 on the boundary gM, we have a9) SCD, ad tcarnan Jam M ia We introduce the operator (20) La, = -Aag > Beg ¥ cagleg: For two normal vector fields a|,b, to M, which vanish on the boundary eM, their index form is déiined by (2) Ha, b) =f < La,b >dm. M Since (22) af (> (y (a, qPg-Pjq2g)*®;) } =< Bas? >< Ab, a>}am, the index form is symmetric: (23) Ia, b) = I(b, a). By writing Ia) = I(a,a), we have therefore (24) vi(0) = Ka) On the other hand, the normal vector fields a and b have the scalar product (25) (a,b) “Sd a,b, )am, M From the theory of strongly elliptic operators we have the theore: A) The index form I[a,b) is 2 symmetric bilinear form on the space co of C™ normal vector fields to M, which vanish on the boundary 3M.-48- Ila,b) may be diagonalized with respect to the scalar product (25) and has ietinct real eigenvalues (26) {hg cer chy see Sto. Moreover, the dimension of each eigenspaceis finite ‘The index of M is the sum of the dimensions of the eigenspaces which correspond to negative eigenvalues. The nullity of M is the dimension of the null eigenspace. We state the following fact without proof: B) The totally geodesic submanifold S"—+S"*Phas index p and nullity p(n +1). For n=, i.e., for a geodesic, we have a, = 0 and the operator L becomes (27) Many theorems in global Riemannian geometry (such as the Morse index theorem, Synge's lemma, Myers' theorem, etc.) follow from the study of this operator. -49- §9. Minimal cones in euclidean space. Let « M=MBagttiggnt2 bean immersed minimal hypersurface. We denote by CM the cone over M, which consists of the points tm, m€M, 02t41. In general CM has a singularity at the vertex t = 0, which will ve excluded from the following considerations. The truncated cone will be denoted by cM, i = {tm|meM, € ¢ts1}. Then aM, = MUM,, where M-= {em|m eM}. € Let @5.- be an orthonormal frame field over M, with Sn) e. describing M and e, ,, the unit normal vector to M at q. Then ae =) 6c, f (2) sen 41 = 2 Sint Beye Z with (3) Synth =) Pak » Bae = Mea k ‘The condition that M is aminimal hypersurface is expressed by en ‘A generic point on the cone CM is given by (5) x=tey, O Matam, G a cM. € where (13) Les -PAt-ot, o being defined as usual by (4) o ‘This motivates a splitting of the operator L:-52- (15) L=L,+L,, where c™(M)—> C%(m), (16) cM €,1] + OL €, 1] are strongly elliptic operators given respectively by nf = -hf-of, a7) 2 ‘ Lag = -t7g''-nte’. The operator L is said to have the eigenvalue yu, if the equation (18) Ltsut has a non-trivial solution, where f CM, —+R is a C-function which Let vanishes on the boundary 8CM, ApS hp ag) ‘be respectively the eigenvalues of the operators Ly,L,. We have the lemma: ss A) Let M—>8"*? be a closed minimal hypersurface in the unit sphere and let CM, be the truncated cone over M. We may choose a function & CM, +R which vanishes on the boundary 3CM_ such that I(a)< 0, a = = unit normal vector), if and only if feagr asi 1t5, <0 Let f, gy vit = 1,2... be the eigenfunctions corresponding respectively to the eigenvalues in (19). Then f(m,t) has the unique expansion (20) i(m, t) = > cf (m)g (t), viv en vere) -53- and we have n-2 Shyla ty efbalgh 2) eg > amat Ia) vera Es f < > eyithy # Bhs 2? > cy f,8,> amat MX[€,1] v,T21 vote) 1 = > ely + Oy) f Zam ft ae. vitel ieee If Ma) <0, then ), +6, <0 for some y,7, which is possible only when dy #6, < 0. On the other hand, if i, + 6, <0, we may simply take alm, t) = (n)g,(t). The operator L, on the line t is easy to analyze, and we have the theorem, whose proof is elememtary: B) Let C™[€,1] denote the C™ functions on the interval € which vanish at the end-points. Relative to the density t"”2at the operator L, has the eigenvalues (21) 4 <62<-.- So given by (22) (23) In particular, (22a) a (2) + Ge For 7 #¥, we haveSe (24) = gat = 0 8, = 8 € The first eigenvalue of the operator L, is described by the theorem: C) Let M™-+ s"*? be a clused minimal hypersurface. Then dy = 0, if M™ is totally geodesic, 25) A) d, = -n, otherwise In fact, if M is totally geodesic, we have 0 The other eigenvalues are strictly positive, the eigenfunctions being the spherical harmonics Suppose now that M is not totally geodesic, so that c is not identically zero. We have (26) 45 (fam Fryine am, M for any f¢C™(M), £# 0. For n>0 we set (27) £ = (94/2), Since M is not totally geodesic, we have sity f Pama We wish to calculate Af,. Using our notation above, af, = (6 +n) AD), sjPaglehe pk Plot 0 OY nhc) {o #1)" (72) ne sued) Ne higr rs i if ted “0/25 -0/2) Ho +n) a rid, tle tm / >» Papeete Lie -55- It follows that 2 >; Bike Lik (28) at, The sum of the first two terms is bounded below by (otal eS 1 ae. ( : sity 1 BO fd the Applying (6.14), we have at, (0+ a) C/ nga), and hence It follows that : 2 ate Lif,’ fy 2 o-Ro-off Sa. From (26) we get i, = -n, which is to be proved. Combining (22a) and (25), we have, for M not totally geodesic, (29) tgs ar(8F P(e) This gives the theorem: D) (Simons) Let M"—3s"*! bea closedminimal hypersurface, not totally geodesic. For nz 5 the cone CM does not minimize area with boundary fixed. For the Clifford hypersurface $°xS?+§", Theorem C) gives d= 7-6 But-56- Ab 1 so that 1, = -6. We also have 62 6, and thus 1) + 6,>0. This giveg the theorem: "B) Let M be the Clifford hypersurface $?x5?957, and CM the minimal cone over M. Then any variation of CM holding M fixed initially increases area. Using results of Federer-Fleming, de Giorgi, and Triscari, one gets the theorem: F)(Bernstein-Simons) Let z= a(q,..%,), all ntl be a minimal hypersurface in the euclidean space E"*). If nz 7, the function 2(x,,-..,x,) is linear. 1 n! -57- BIBLIOGRAPHY Note. This Bibliography includes only items referred to in the text. For minimal surfaces cf. [8], [9] for extensive Bibliographies. 1] Almgren, F.J., Jr., Some interior regularity theorems for minimal surfaces and an extension of Bernstein's theorem, Ann of Math. 84 (1966), 277-292. [2] Calabi, E,, Minimal immersions of surfaces in euclidean spheres, J. of Diff. Geom. 1 (1967), 11-125. [3] Chern, S,, Minimal surfaces in an euclidean space of n dimensions, Differential and combinatorial topology (Morse Jubilee Volume), Princeton, N.J. 1965, 187-198. [4] Chern, S., Simple proofs of two theorems on minimal surfaces, to appear in 1'Ens. Math. [5] Chern, S., do Carmo, M., and Kobayashi, S., Minimal submanifolds of a sphere with second fundamental form of constant length, to appear in Stone Jubilee Volume. [6] Hsiang, W.¥., Remarks on closed minimal submanifolds in the standard Riemannian m-sp here, J. of Diff. Geom. (1967), 257-267. [7] Lawson, H.B., Jr., Minimal varieties in constant curvature manifolds, Ph.D. thesis, Stanford 1968. [8] Nitsche, J.C.C,, On new results in the theory of minimal surfaces, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 71 (1965), 195-270. [9] Osserman, R,, Minimal surfaces (in Russian), Uspekhi Mat. Nauk 22 (1967), 55-136. (An English translation of this article will appear as-58- one of the van Nostrand Mathematical Studies.) [10] Protter, M.H. and Weinb imum principles in differential equations, Prentice [1] Simons, J., Minimal v mannian manifolds, Ann. of Math. 88 (1968), CABOT SCIENCE LIBRARY [ CABOT] ] }__JUN-0-8 2999 BOOK DU} roc