r-Minimal submanifolds in space forms

Let be an n-dimensional compact, possibly with boundary, submanifold in an (n + p)-dimensional space form R ^n+p (c). Assume that r is even and , in this paper we introduce rth mean curvature function S _r and (r + 1)-th mean curvature vector field . We call M to be an r-minimal submanifold if on M, we note that the concept of 0-minimal submanifold is the concept of minimal submanifold. In this paper, we define a functional of , by calculation of the first variational formula of J _r we show that x is a critical point of J _r if and only if x is r-minimal. Besides, we give many examples of r-minimal submanifolds in space forms. We calculate the second variational formula of J _r and prove that there exists no compact without boundary stable r-minimal submanifold with in the unit sphere S ^n+p . When r = 0, noting S ₀ = 1, our result reduces to Simons’ result: there exists no compact without boundary stable minimal submanifold in the unit sphere S ^n+p .