A regularity result for critical points of conformally invariant functionals (Q1891644)

The paper deals with a conjecture of \textit{S. Hildebrandt} concerning the regularity of critical points of conformally invariant functionals defined on \(H^1 (\Omega, \mathbb{R}^d)\), \(\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^2\) open [Differential geometry and differential equations, Proc. 1980, Beijing Sympos., Vol. 1, 481-615 (1982; Zbl 0515.58012)], and a partial positive answer is given. The subject is nicely presented in an introduction, stating the main results and links to other sources. The author's approach is based on an explicit characterization of the functionals in question due to \textit{M. Grüter} [Manuscr. Math. 47, 85- 104 (1984; Zbl 0543.49020)], which allows a geometric reformulation of the problem in terms of Riemannian manifolds. More explicitly, the functional is defined on maps with values in a compact Riemannian manifold \(M\) without boundary, in terms of the metric and a 2-form on \(M\). The main technical point is the embedding of \(M\) into a higher- dimensional auxiliary Euclidean space \(M'\) and the usage of a global orthogonal frame field on \(M'\). The main result shows that if the critical point \(u\) is a priori assumed to be bounded, then \(u\) is smooth in \(\Omega\), up to \(\partial\Omega\) if \(u|_{\partial \Omega}\) is smooth. Moreover, if \(u\) is assumed to be a conformal parametrization of a two-dimensional submanifold in a three- dimensional compact Riemannian manifold \(M\), then the critical points are exactly the surfaces of the prescribed mean curvature.