Volume estimates for tubes around submanifolds using integral curvature bounds

Abstract

We generalize an inequality of E. Heintze and H. Karcher [8] for the volume of tubes around minimal submanifolds to an inequality based on integral bounds for $k$-Ricci curvature. Even in the case of a pointwise bound, this generalizes the classical inequality by replacing a sectional curvature bound with a $k$-Ricci bound. This work is motivated by the estimates of Petersen-Shteingold-Wei for the volume of tubes around a geodesic [12] and generalizes their result. Using similar ideas we also prove a Hessian comparison theorem for $k$-Ricci curvature which generalizes the usual Hessian and Laplacian comparison for distance functions from a point and give several applications.