In this paper we deal with complete linear Weingarten hypersurfaces immersed into Riemannian space forms. Assuming an Okumura type inequality on the total umbilicity tensor of such hypersurfaces, we prove that either the hypersurface is totally umbilical or it holds an estimate for the norm of the total umbilicity tensor, which is also shown be sharp in the sense that the product of space forms realize them. Our approach is based on a version of the Omori–Yau maximum principle for a suitable Cheng–Yau type operator.

In this paper, we establish new characterization results concerning totally umbilical hypersurfaces of the hyperbolic space $\mathbb{H}^{n+1}$, under suitable constraints on the behavior of the Lorentzian Gauss map of complete hypersurfaces having some constant higher order mean curvature. Furthermore, working with different warped product models for $\mathbb{H}^{n+1}$ and supposing that certain natural inequalities involving two consecutive higher order mean curvature functions are satisfied, we study the rigidity and the nonexistence of complete hypersurfaces immersed in $\mathbb{H}^{n+1}$.