Abstract:
In this paper we consider compact multidimensional surfaces of nonpositive external curvature in a Riemannian space. If the curvature of the underlying space is $\ge1$ and the curvature of the surface is $\le1$, then in small codimension the surface is a totally geodesic submanifold that is locally isometric to the sphere. Under stricter restrictions on the curvature of the underlying space, the submanifold is globally isometric to the unit sphere.