Some geometric properties of hypersurfaces with constant $r$-mean curvature in Euclidean space

Abstract

Let f:M\ra \erre^{m+1} be an isometrically immersed hypersurface. In this paper, we exploit recent results due to the authors in \cite{bimari} to analyze the stability of the differential operator $L_r$ associated with the $r$-th Newton tensor of $f$. This appears in the Jacobi operator for the variational problem of minimizing the $r$-mean curvature $H_r$. Two natural applications are found. The first one ensures that, under the mild condition that the integral of $H_r$ over geodesic spheres grows sufficiently fast, the Gauss map meets each equator of \esse^m infinitely many times. The second one deals with hypersurfaces with zero $(r+1)$-mean curvature. Under similar growth assumptions, we prove that the affine tangent spaces $f_*T_pM$, $p\in M$, fill the whole \erre^{m+1}.Comment: 10 pages, corrected typo