Exponentially harmonic maps between Finsler manifolds (Q1673757)

A map \(\phi: (M^m, g) \to (N^n, h)\) is called exponentially harmonic if it is a critical of the exponential energy functional defined by \(E_e(\phi) = \int_M e^{\frac{1}{2}|d\phi|^2} \, dv_g\). There are exponentially harmonic maps which are not harmonic maps [\textit{J. Eells jun.} and \textit{J. H. Sampson}, Am. J. Math. 86, 109--160 (1964; Zbl 0122.40102)], and there are harmonic maps which are not exponentially harmonic maps [\textit{J. Hong} and \textit{Y. Yong}, Chin. Ann. Math., Ser. A 14, No. 6, 686--691 (1993; Zbl 0814.58013)]. Now, let \((M^m, F)\) be a Finsler manifold with a Finsler metric \(F= F(x, y) : TM \to [0, \infty)\) satisfying regularity, homogeneity in the second variable and strong convexity of the fundamental quadratic form \(g = g_{ij} dx^{i} \otimes dx^j\), where \(g_{ij} = \frac{1}{2}\partial^2(F^2)/\partial y^i \partial y^j.\) Let \(\phi: M^n \to \hat M^n\) be a non-constant smooth map between Finsler manifolds. The exponential energy of \(\phi\) is defined by \(E_e(\phi) = \frac{1}{\omega_{m-1}} \int_{SM} e_e(\phi)\, dv_{SM},\) where \(\omega_{m-1}\) denotes the volume of the unit sphere \({\mathbb S}^{m-1}\), \(e_e(\phi)\) is the exponential energy density which is a function from the sphere bundle \(SM\) to \({\mathbb R}\) defined by \(e_e(\phi)(x, y) = e^{\frac{1}{2}|d\phi|^2} = e^{\frac{1}{2}g^{ij}(x, y)\phi_i^\alpha \phi_j^\beta{\hat g}_{\alpha\beta}(\hat x, \hat y)}\), \(dv_{SM} = \Omega d\tau \wedge dx\), \(\Omega = \det(g_{ij}/F)\), and \(d\tau = \sum_i (-1)^{i-1}dy^1\wedge \cdots \wedge \widehat{dy}^i \wedge \cdots\wedge dy^m\). In this paper, the author derives the first and second variations of the exponential energy of a smooth map between Finsler manifolds. As a corollary, the author shows that a non-constant exponentially harmonic map \(\phi\) from a unit \(m\)-sphere \({\mathbb S}^m (m \geq 3)\) into a Finsler manifold is stable when \(|d\phi|^2 \geq m-2\), and is unstable in case \(|d\phi|^2 < m-2\).