Harmonic self-maps of \(\mathrm{SU}(3)\) (Q1742957)

The energy of a smooth map \(\varphi : M \to N\) between Riemannian manifolds \((M, g)\) and \((N, h)\) is defined by \[ E(\varphi) = \frac{1}{2}\int_M |d \varphi|^2\, dv. \] A \(C^1\)-map \(\varphi\) from \(M\) to \(N\) is said to be harmonic if \(\varphi\) is a critical point of the energy functional, i.e., it satisfies the Euler-Lagrange equation \(\tau(\varphi)=0\), where \(\tau(\varphi) = \mathrm{tr } \nabla d \varphi\) is the so-called tension field of \(\varphi\). In this paper, the author considers harmonic maps from \(\mathrm{SU}(3)\) to itself under the cohomogeneity one action \[ \mathrm{SU}(3) \times \mathrm{SU}(3) \to\mathrm{SU}(3),\quad (A, B) \mapsto ABA^T \] whose principal isotropy group is given by \(H = \mathrm{SO}(2)\). For any smooth map \(r: (0, \pi/2) \to {\mathbb R}\), define the map \[ \Psi_r : \mathrm{SU}(3)/H \times (0, \pi/2) \to \mathrm{SU}(3)/H \times {\mathbb R}, \quad (gH, t) \to (gH, r(t)), \] which is equivariant with respect to the above action. For these maps, the Euler-Lagrange equations of the energy functional reduce to \[ r''(t) = - \csc^2 2t (2 \sin 4t \cdot r'(t) + 4\sin^2t \cdot \sin 2r(t) - 8 \cos^3 t \cdot\sin r(t)). \] The author constructs solutions of this ODE satisfying the boundary condition \(r(0) = 0\) and \(r(\frac{\pi}{2}) = (2l+1)\frac{\pi}{2}\), and shows that these solutions yield harmonic maps from \(\mathrm{SU}(3)\) to itself. In particular, there are infinitely many non-trivial harmonic maps from \(\mathrm{SU}(3)\) to itself with Brouwer degree \(\pm 1\).