Harmonic maps and the topology of conformally compact Einstein manifolds (Q1598413)

The authors prove the following result: Suppose that \(M\) is an \(n+1\) dimensional asymptotically hyperbolic conformally compact manifold of class \(C^1\) with Ricci curvature bounded below by \(-n\), and the first \(L^2\)-eigenvalue \(\lambda\) of \(M\) bounded below by \(n-1\). Suppose that \(f \) is a smooth harmonic map of finite total energy from \(M\) to a complete nonpositively curved manifold. If \(\lambda >n-1\), then \(f\) is constant. If \(\lambda=n-1\), then either \(f\) is constant or \(M\) is a warped product of the real line and a compact manifold with Ricci curvature bounded below by \(-(n-1)\). Next, they give some topological applications to asymptotically hyperbolic Einstein manifolds. To prove this result, the authors extend \textit{X. Wang}'s arguments [On the geometry of conformally compact Einstein manifolds, PhD thesis, Stanford University 2001; Math. Res. Lett. 8, 671--688 (2001; Zbl 1053.53030)] and use Bochner's formula in a delicate way. The technical part is to estimate the decay rate of the energy via a very useful integral identity for maps. This identity is usually used to prove Liouville type result for maps between manifolds, see for example [\textit{Y. Xin}, Geometry of harmonic maps. Boston: Birkhäuser (1996; Zbl 0848.58014)].