Singularities for \(p\)-energy minimizing unit vector fields on planar domains (Q1894805)

Let \(\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^2\) be a \({\mathcal C}^2\) domain, \(g : \partial \Omega \to S^1\) a \({\mathcal C}^2\) smooth map of degree \(d\), and suppose that for every \(p \in (1,2)\), \(u_p : \Omega \to S^1\) is a \(p\)-energy minimizing map with \(u_p |\partial \Omega = g\). The following are the main results of the paper: (1) For every \(p\) sufficiently close to 2, depending on \(\Omega\) and \(g\), the map \(u_p\) has precisely \(|d |\) singularities; (2) Any sequence of \(p\)'s approaching 2 contains a subsequence \(p_i\) so that the maps \(u_{p_i}\) converge strongly in \({\mathcal C}^{1, \alpha}\) on compact subsets of \(\overline \Omega \backslash A\) for some constant \(\alpha \in (0,1)\) and some set \(A\) of \(|d |\) points in \(\Omega\); (3) The limit map \(u : \Omega \backslash A \to S^1\) is real analytic and harmonic. If \(d\) is positive (resp. negative) then every point \(a \in A\) is a singularity of degree \(+ 1\) (resp. \(- 1)\) for \(u\). In fact, for some harmonic function \(h : \Omega \to \mathbb{R}\) one has \(u = e^{ih} \prod_{a \in A} {x - a \over |x - a |}\) (resp. \(e^{ih} \prod_{a \in A} {\overline {x - a} \over |x - a |})\); and (4) For every \(p_0 > 1\) there exist positive numbers \(N = N (\Omega, g,p_0)\) and \(\delta = \delta (\Omega, g,p_0)\) such that for all \(p \in [p_0, 2]\) any \(p\)-energy minimizer \(u_p\) with \(u_p |\partial \Omega = g\) has at most \(N\) singularities, and these are separated from each other and from \(\partial \Omega\) by a distance of at least \(\delta\).