Minkowski identities for hypersurfaces in constant sectional curvature manifolds

Abstract

We give a new proof of the generalized Minkowski identities relating the higher degree mean curvatures of orientable closed hypersurfaces immersed in a given constant sectional curvature manifold. Our methods rely on a fundamental differential system of Riemannian geometry introduced by the author. We develop the notion of position vector field, which lies at the core of the Minkowski identities.

11 pages; several improvements, final version, to appear in Differential Geometry and its Applications