Clifford systems, algebraically constant second fundamental form and isoparametric hypersurfaces

In this paper we prove that a submanifold with parallel mean curvature of a space of constant curvature, whose second fundamental form has the same algebraic type as the one of a symmetric submanifold, is locally symmetric. As an application, using properties of Clifford systems, we give a short and alternative proof of a result of Cartan asserting that a compact isoparametric hypersurface of the sphere with three distinct principal curvatures is a tube around the Veronese embedding of the real, complex, quaternionic or Cayley projective planes. Received: 22 April 1998