Some constructions of biharmonic maps and Chen's conjecture on biharmonic hypersurfaces (Q408226)

A biharmonic map between Riemannian manifolds is a critical point of the bienergy functional [\textit{G. Jiang}, Chin. Ann. Math., Ser. A 7, 130--144 (1986; Zbl 0596.53046)]. Any harmonic map is biharmonic. An interesting task is to find examples of proper biharmonic (i.e. biharmonic, non-harmonic) maps, which is one of the aims of the present paper. Several construction methods including biharmonic tori of any dimension in Euclidean spheres, biharmonic maps between and into spheres via orthogonal multiplications and eigenmaps are given. Biharmonic graphs of maps are studied and the equation for a function whose graph is a biharmonic hypersurface in a Euclidean space is derived. An equivalent formulation of Chen's conjecture on biharmonic hypersurfaces is given by using the biharmonic graph equation, which reveals a similarity to Bernstein's conjecture (concerning the existence of entire minimal graph). One can hope that checking whether a biharmonic graph in a Euclidean space is minimal, represents a new step in approaching Chen's conjecture [\textit{B.-Y. Chen}, Soochow J. Math. 17, No. 2, 169--188 (1991; Zbl 0749.53037)].