Complexity of holomorphic maps from the complex unit ball to classical domains (Q1791251)

A well-known problem in complex analysis is the classification of all holomorphic maps such as biholomorphisms, proper maps, or isometries between domains with many symmetries, such as the unit ball, or more general the classical bounded symmetric domains. Let \(D\) and \(\Omega\) be two bounded symmetric domains in complex euclidean space of possibly different dimensions. Let \(\omega_D\) and \(\omega_\Omega\) denote the Bergman metric. A holomorphic map \(F : D \to \Omega\) is an isometry if \(F^* \omega_\Omega = \lambda \omega_D\) for a positive constant \(\lambda\). By work of Mok, if \(\Omega\) is an irreducible bounded symmetric domain of rank at least 2, then there exists a non-totally geodesic isometry of some \(n_\Omega\)-dimensional unit ball into \(\Omega\), and the \(n_\Omega\) is the maximum integer that admits an isometry. A related problem is the study of proper holomorphic maps. A map is proper if \(F^{-1}(K) \subset \subset D\) whenever \(K \subset \subset \Omega\). In very naive terms, a proper map is one that takes boundary to boundary. Similar rigidity (and nonrigidity) results are known for this case. For example when \(D = {\mathbb{B}}^n\) and \(\Omega = {\mathbb{B}}^N\), then for small codimension \(N-n\), there exist gaps, where all maps are non-minimal. A map is minimal (what the authors call minimum) if it cannot be reduced to the form \((G,0)\). For the gap-phenomenon, for example \textit{X. Huang, S. Ji} and \textit{W. Yin} [``Recent progress on two problems in several complex variables'', Proceedings of International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians 2007, vol. I, 563--575 (2009)] and \textit{J. D'Angelo} and \textit{J. Lebl} [Int. J. Math. 20, No. 2, 149--166 (2009; Zbl 1202.32015)] show that these gaps disappear for sufficiently large codimension. In this paper the authors continue the study of maps from \({\mathbb{B}}^n\) to \(D_m^{IV}\), which they started in a previous paper where they proved that such a proper map is an isometry for small codimension if given sufficient regularity up to the boundary. The authors study the minimal maps in this setup. They show that a holomorphic isometry from \({\mathbb{B}}^n\) to \(D_m^{IV}\) is not minimal if \(m \geq 2n+3\), and this inequality is optimal. They show that there exist minimal holomorphic isometries whenever \(n+2 \leq m \leq 2n+2\), in fact a one parameter family of mutually inequivalent such maps. For proper maps, the authors prove that there always exist minimal proper maps whenever \(m \geq n+1\). They prove degree estimates for rational holomorphic isometries for certain ranges of \(m\) and \(n\). Finally, they construct a non-totally geodesic proper holomorphic map from \({\mathbb{B}}^n\) to any one of the four types of classical domains.