Conformal deformations of submanifolds in codimension two

Abstract

Let $M^n\subset R^{n+2},$$n\ge 7$, be a conformally deformable submanifold of euclidean space in codimension two. In this paper we show that if the submanifold has sufficiently low conformal nullity, a generic conformal condition, then it can be realized as a hypersurface of a conformally deformable hypersurface. The latter have been classified by Cartan early this century. Furthermore, it turns out that all deformations of the former are induced by deformations of the latter.