Gauss equation in a curved ambient manifold ($⟨R^M(v,w)y,x⟩=⟨R^N(v,w)y,x⟩+⟨II(v,x),II(w,y)⟩-⟨II(v,y),II(w,x)⟩$)

For an embedded submanifold of a Riemannian manifold, use $R(v,w)y={\nabla }_v{\nabla }_{w}y-{\nabla }_w{\nabla }_{v}y-{\nabla }_{[v,w]}y$. The Gauss formula and tangential derivative of a normal field giveSubtract the expression with $v,w$ interchanged and the bracket derivative, whose normal part pairs to zero. This proves the displayed curvature identity. For flat Euclidean ambient space, its ambient curvature term vanishes and one obtains the ordinary Gauss equation. Declaring the four-slot convention $R(x,y,v,w)=⟨R(v,w)y,x⟩$ avoids sign ambiguities when permuting arguments.

Let the unit normal satisfy $n^a{n}_a=\epsilon =\pm 1$, let $h_{ab}=g_{ab}-\epsilon n_a{n}_b$, and set $K_{ab}=h_a{}^c{h}_b{}^d{\nabla }_c{n}_d$. The normal component of an ambient derivative of tangent fields is $-\epsilon K(X,Y)n$. Substitute that decomposition into the curvature commutator and project tangentially to obtain the displayed equation. Its scalar contraction is ${}^{\Sigma }R=R-2\epsilon R_{ab}{n}^a{n}^b+\epsilon (K^2-K_{ab}{K}^{ab})$. Both metric signature and curvature-slot convention must be specified when assigning a sign.

Here $R(X,Y)=D_{[X,Y]}-[D_X,D_Y]$, the negative of the convention in the ordinary Gauss equation in a curved ambient manifold. Insert the Gauss formula and Weingarten formula into this definition and project tangentially to obtain the displayed identity. Positive sectional curvature uses $⟨R(X,Y)X,Y⟩/|X\wedge Y{|}^2$ with this convention. Thus a Euclidean surface still has Gaussian curvature $K=\det A_{\xi }$; reversing the operator sign without changing the slot order would give the wrong sign.

A surface locally swept out by ambient geodesics has $II(T,T)=0$ in its unit ruling direction $T$. For a perpendicular unit tangent $E$, the Gauss equation in a curved ambient manifold therefore gives the displayed identity. Its Gaussian curvature is at most the ambient sectional curvature in its tangent plane, with equality precisely when $II(T,E)=0$. An independent variation argument applies the Jacobi field equation to the length of a perpendicular connecting field; its ambient derivative has the extra normal component $II(T,E)$. The Euclidean surface $(t,s,ts)$ is ruled by straight lines and has Gaussian curvature $-(1+t^2+s^2{)}^{-2}<0$.