English

Isoparametric hypersurfaces with four principal curvatures

Differential Geometry 2007-05-23 v1

Abstract

Let MM be an isoparametric hypersurface in the sphere SnS^n with four distinct principal curvatures. M\"{u}nzner showed that the four principal curvatures can have at most two distinct multiplicities m1,m2m_1, m_2, and Stolz showed that the pair (m1,m2)(m_1,m_2) must either be (2,2)(2,2), (4,5)(4,5), or be equal to the multiplicities of an isoparametric hypersurface of FKM-type, constructed by Ferus, Karcher and M\"{u}nzner from orthogonal representations of Clifford algebras. In this paper, we prove that if the multiplicities satisfy m23m11m_2 \geq 3m_1 - 1, then the isoparametric hypersurface MM must be of FKM-type. Together with known results of Takagi for the case m1=1m_1 = 1, and Ozeki and Takeuchi for m1=2m_1 = 2, this handles all possible pairs of multiplicities except for 10 cases, for which the classification problem remains open. The paper improves the result of a pre-existing preprint with the same title, in which 14 cases remained open.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.math/0402272,
  title  = {Isoparametric hypersurfaces with four principal curvatures},
  author = {Tom Cecil and Quo-Shin Chi and Gary Jensen},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/0402272},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

79 pages, no figures, improved version of a pre-existing preprint with the same title

R2 v1 2026-07-22T17:02:38.687Z