A note on the spectral deformation of harmonic maps from \({S}^{2}\) into the unitary group (Q1754396)

The paper under review is devoted to the study of the spectral deformation of harmonic maps \(\varphi: \mathbb{S}^2 \to \mathbb{U}(n)\) where \(\mathbb{S}^2\) is the \(2\)-sphere endowed with its canonical structure of Riemann surface and \(U(n)\) is the unitary group of \(\mathbb{C}^n\). A harmonic map \(\varphi: M\to N\) between two Riemannian manifolds is a critical point of a natural energy functional given by \(E(\varphi) =\int_M \Vert d\varphi\Vert^2 v_M\), where \(\Vert d\varphi\Vert^2\) denotes the square norm of the differential of \(\varphi\) and \(v_M\) the volume element of \(M\). When the target manifold \(N\) is a Lie group \(G\) the harmonic map equation allows a spectral deformation, that is, a one-parameter deformation depending on a parameter \(\lambda \in S^1\) (the extended solution) [\textit{K. Uhlenbeck}, J. Differ. Geom. 30, No. 1, 1--50 (1989; Zbl 0677.58020)]. This means that the given harmonic map may be regarded as a map into the loop group \(\Omega G\) of based loops \(\gamma:S^1 \to G (\gamma(1) = \mathrm{Id})\). Therefore, such an extended solution admits a Fourier expansion. When this Fourier series has finitely many terms one says that the corresponding harmonic map has finite uniton number. In earlier papers, the authors proved that harmonic maps with finite soliton number are obtained via successive multiplications of some maps into Grassmannians [loc. cit.]. In [Math. Z. 266, No. 4, 953--978 (2010; Zbl 1204.58011)], the authors provided a general expression of such maps. In this paper under review, the authors consider harmonic maps with finite soliton number and give an explicit description of the one parameter family \(\varphi_t\) in terms of the meromorphic data to built the initial harmonic map \(\varphi\).