Singularities of first kind in the harmonic map and Yang-Mills heat flows (Q1433400)

The existence of first kind singularities for the harmonic map heat flow is shown by constructing explicit examples. These examples are obtained by solving an appropriate ODE. By setting up this ODE in a more general context the author is also able to show the existence of first kind singularities for the Yang-Mills heat flow and to provide a simplified proof of Ratto's/Ding theorem on the harmonic Hopf construction.