A STUDY ON SUBMANIFOLDS OF CODIMENSION 2 IN A SPHERE

Let M be an n-dimensional compact connected and oriented Riemannian manifold isometrically immersed in an (n+2)-dimensional Euclidean space $R^{n+2}$. Moore [5] proved that if M is of positive curvature, then M is a homotopy sphere. This result is generalized by Baldin and Mercuri [2], Baik and Shin [1] to the case of non-negative curvature, which is stated as follows: If M of non-negative curvature, then M is either a homotopy sphere or diffeomorphic to a product of two spheres. In particular, if there is a point at which the curvature operator is positive, then M is homeomorphic to a sphere.e.