Minimizing fibrations and \(p\)-harmonic maps in homotopy classes from \(S^3\) into \(S^2\) (Q1271408)

The author proves that, contrary to the case of maps from \(S^3\) into \(S^3\), there exist infinitely many homotopy classes from \(S^3\) into \(S^2\) having a minimizing 3-harmonic map. The first eigenforms of the linear operator \(\Delta^{1/2}= d^*\) on \((\text{Ker }d)\cap \Lambda^{2n} S^{4n-1}\) are shown to be stable for the associated conformally invariant nonlinear variational problem and it results, in particular, that the Hopf map from \(S^3\) into \(S^2\) minimizes the \(p\)-energy in its homotopy class for \(p\geq 4\) and that this remains true locally for \(3\leq p<4\). It is also proved that the Hopf map minimizes the \(p\)-energy for \(p\geq 3\) among a certain class of symmetric fibrations from \(S^3\) into \(S^2\).