Harmonic maps from 2-complexes (Q851501)

The paper is motivated by the attempt of bringing harmonic maps theory and holomorphic quadratic differentials into the study of finitely generated groups. The authors develop the theory of harmonic maps from flat admissible finite 2-complexes into metric spaces of non-positive curvature. The results are further applied to study the Morgan-Shalen compactification of SL\((2,\mathbb C)\) representations of finitely generated groups.