Stability on minimal submanifolds in symmetric spaces

Abstract

We determine the stabilityof totally geodesic submanifolds in a compact symmetric space, which are called polars and meridians (see 2.1). These subspaces were introduced by Chen and Nagano ([CN-1]) and we have many interesting results after that ([CN-2], [N-l], [N-2], [NS-1], [NS-2] and [NS-3]). Recently, several results have been obtained about the stabilityof totally geodesic submanifolds in compact symmetric spaces. Ohnita gave the formula for the index, the nullityand the Killing nullity of a totally geodesic submanifold in a compact symmetric space in [0], in which he also proved that the Helgason sphere in a compact symmetric space is stable. Tasaki proved that the Helgason sphere in a compact Lie group is homologically volume-minimizing in its real homology classin [Ts-1]. He used the calibrationtheory. And there are studies about the stability of certain closed subgroups in a compact Lie group by Mashimo and Tasaki ([MT-1] and [MT-2]). Mashimo determined all the unstable Cartan embeddings of compact symmetric spaces in [M]. And there is a result about the stabilityof symmetric i?-spaces in Hermitian symmetric spaces and totally complex submanifolds in quaternionic Kahler symmetric spaces of classical type by Takeuchi ([Tk-2]). Recently Nagano and the author have obtained a result on a relationshipbetween the stabilityof minimal submanifolds and that of /^-harmonic maps ([NS-3]). In the present paper we study the stability of all the polars and meridians in every compact symmetric space by using Ohnita's method in Section 3. We will also study the stabilityof totally complex totallygeodesic submanifolds in quaternionic Kahler symmetric spaces of exceptional type in Section 4. I should like to express my gratitude to Professor T. Nagano for his useful advice and kindly support. This is the author's doctoral dissertation submitted to Sophia University in October, 1992.