A pinching theorem for the first eigenvalue of the Laplacian on hypersurfaces of the Euclidean space

In this paper, we give pinching theorems for the first nonzero eigenvalue lambda(1) (M) of the Laplacian on the compact hypersurfaces of the Euclidean space. Indeed, we prove that if the volume of M is I then, for any epsilon > 0, there exists a constant C, depending on the dimension n of M and the L-infinity-norm of the mean curvature H, so that if the L-2p-norm parallel to H parallel to(2p) (p >= 2) of H satisfies n parallel to H parallel to(2)(2p)-C-epsilon < lambda(1) (M), then the Hausdorff-distance between M and a round sphere of radius (n/lambda(1) (M))(1/2) is smaller than epsilon. Furthermore, we prove that if C is a small enough constant depending on n and the L-infinity-norm of the second fundamental form, then the pinching condition n parallel to H parallel to(2)(2p)-C < lambda(1) (M) implies that M is diffeomorphic to an n-dimensional sphere.