Affine biharmonic curves in 3-dimensional homogeneous geometries (Q1943602)

Biharmonic maps between Riemannian manifolds are maps \(\varphi:(M, g)\longrightarrow (N, h)\) that are critical points of the bienergy functional \[ E_{2}\left(\varphi,\Omega \right)= \frac{1}{2} {\int}_{\Omega} [h(\tau(\varphi) , \tau(\varphi))\circ\varphi] v_g \] for every compact subset \(\Omega\) of \(M\), where \(\tau(\varphi)=\text{Trace}_{g}\nabla \text{d} \varphi\) is the tension field of \(\varphi\). The Euler-Lagrange equation of the bienergy functional implies that biharmonic maps are precisely those maps between Riemannian manifolds whose tension fields are in the kernel of the Jacobi operator of \(\varphi\), i.e., \( J^{\varphi}_{g}(\tau(\varphi)))=0\), where the Jacobi operator is defined as \[ J^{\varphi}_{g,h}(X)=-\{\text{Trace}_{g}(\nabla^{\varphi}\nabla^{\varphi}-\nabla^{\varphi}_{\nabla^{M}})X - \text{Trace}_{g} R^{N}(\text{d}\varphi, X)\text{d}\varphi\} \] for any vector field \(X\) along the map \(\varphi:(M, g)\longrightarrow (N, h)\) with \[ R^{N}(X,Y)Z=[\nabla^{N}_{X},\nabla^{N}_{Y}]Z-\nabla^{N}_{[X,Y]}Z \] being denoting the Riemannian curvature operator of \((N, h)\). Affine biharmonic maps were introduced in [\textit{J. T. Cho} and the authors, Abh. Math. Semin. Univ. Hamb. 79, No. 1, 113--133 (2009; Zbl 1180.58010)] as a generalization of biharmonic maps to the case of maps from a Riemannian manifold into an affine manifold (a manifold with an affine connection). This can be done because, for a map \(\varphi:(M, g)\longrightarrow (N, \nabla)\) from a Riemannian manifold into an affine manifold, the pull-back connection \(\nabla^{\varphi}\), the second fundamental form \((\nabla\text{d}\varphi)(X, Y)=\nabla^{\varphi}_X\text{d}\varphi(Y)-\text{d}\varphi(\nabla^{M}_X Y)\), and hence the tension field \(\tau(\varphi)=\text{trace}_g (\nabla\text{d}\varphi)\) all make senses. Generalizing the Jacobi operator to \[ J^{\varphi}_{g, \nabla}(X)=-\{\text{Trace}_{g}(\nabla^{\varphi}\nabla^{\varphi}-\nabla^{\varphi}_{\nabla^{M}})X - \text{Trace}_{g} R^{\nabla}(\text{d}\varphi, X)\text{d}\varphi-T(d \varphi, \nabla^{\varphi}X)-(\nabla T)(d \varphi, X)\}, \] one can define \textbf{an affine harmonic map} to be a map from a Riemannian manifold into an affine manifold whose tension field vanishes identically, and \textbf{an affine biharmonic map} to be one whose tension field is in the kernel of the Jacobi operator of \(\varphi\), i.e., \( J^{\varphi}_{g, \nabla}(\tau(\varphi))=0\). As it is important of choosing interesting metrics to the Riemannian case it is important to select interesting affine connections in the target manifold in the study of affine biharmonic maps. The paper under review studies affine biharmonic curves in 3-dimensional homogeneous spaces. The affine connections used in the almost contact metric 3-manifolds are the generalized Tanaka-Webster-Okumura connection. A classification of almost contact affine biharmonic curves in such spaces is given.