A global weak solution to the full bosonic string heat flow (Q1711680)

The author studies the full bosonic string action \(S_{\mathrm{bos}}(\cdot,h):W^{1,2}(M,N)\rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) defined by \[ S_{\mathrm{bos}}(\phi,h)=\int_M\left(\frac{1}{2}|d\phi|^2+\phi^* B+V(\phi)\right)d\text{vol}_h, \;\;\phi \in W^{1,2}(M,N). \] Here, \((M,h)\) is a closed Riemannian surface, \((N,g)\) is a Riemannian manifold with \(\mathrm{dim} (N)\geq 3\), \(\phi^*B\) is the pull back by the map \(\phi\) of a two-form \(B\) on \(N\), and \(V:N\rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) is a smooth scalar function. By assuming that \[ |B|_\infty<\frac{1}{2} \] and \[ \int_M\left(V(\phi)-\inf_MV \right)d\text{vol}_h\text{ is sufficiently small}, \] the author proves an existence result of critical points of \(S_{\mathrm{bos}}\). In particular, by imposing a stronger condition on the potential \(V\), the author shows that it is not needed to require, as in a previous result, the manifold \(N\) with negative sectional curvature. The strategy of proof consists in studying the \(L^2\)-gradient flow of the functional \(S_{\mathrm{bos}}\) which is given by an evolution equation. The author proves the existence of a unique weak solution \(\phi(x,t)\) for this evolution equation and shows that \(\phi(x,t)\) is smooth away from a finite set \(\{(x_1,t_1),\dots,(x_K,t_K)\}\) of singular points. Then, the author proves that there exists a sequence \(\{\tau_k\}\), with \(\tau_k\rightarrow \infty\), such that \(\phi(\cdot,\tau_k)\) converges weakly in \(W^{1,2}(M,N)\) to a critical point \(\phi_\infty\) of \(S_{\mathrm{bos}}\). Finally, the solution \(\phi_\infty\) is proved to be smooth in \(M\setminus \{x_1,\dots,x_K\}\).