On the holomorphicity of proper harmonic maps between unit balls with the Bergman metrics (Q1971680)

Let \((M^m,h)\) and \((N^n,g)\) be two Kähler manifolds, and \(u:M\to N\) a map from \(M\) to \(N\). When both \(M\) and \(N\) are compact, it has been proved by \textit{Y.-T. Siu} [Ann. Math., II. Ser. 112, 73-111 (1980; Zbl 0517.53058)] that any harmonic map \(u\) must be holomorphic or antiholomorphic, under the assumption that \(N\) has strongly negative curvature in the sense of Siu and the rank of \(du\) at one point is larger than or equal to four. A general question one may ask is when a harmonic map \(u\) is holomorphic or antiholomorphic if \(N\) is Kähler with strongly negative curvature. Since unit balls \(B_m\) in \(\mathbb{C}^m\) with Bergman metric are the simplest class of Kähler manifolds with strongly negative curvature, it is natural to pose the following problem: Let \(h\), \(g\) denote the Bergman metrics on \(B_m\) and \(B_n\), respectively; and let \(u:(B_m,h)\to (B_n,g)\) be a proper harmonic map so that \(u\) can be extended to a \(C^1\) map up to the boundary \(\partial B_m\). Is \(u\) either holomorphic or antiholomorphic? The authors of this paper show that the answer to this problem is negative in general, because they prove the following theorem: For any \(0<\varepsilon< 1\), there is a proper harmonic map \(u\in C^{2-\varepsilon}(B_2)\) from \(B_2\) to \(B_3\) with respect to the Bergman metric, which is neither holomorphic nor antiholomorphic. In order to find out what are the necessary and sufficient conditions under which the proper harmonic map is holomorphic or antiholomorphic, the authors give the notation of \(k\)-harmonic maps with respect to the origin \(O\). A map \(u:B_m\to B_n\) is said to be \(k\)-harmonic with respect to \(O\) if the restriction of \(u\) is harmonic on the intersection of \(B_m\) and to any \(k\)-dimensional complex linear subspace through the origin \(O\). Then the authors prove the following result: Let \(u\in C^2(\overline B_m,\overline B_n)\) \((m>1)\) be a proper map from \(B_m\) and \(B_n\) with respect to the Bergman metrics. Then the following statements are equivalent: (i) \(u\) is either holomorphic or antiholomorphic; (ii) \(u\) is \((m-1)\)-harmonic with respect to the origin \(O\); (iii) \(u\) is harmonic, and \({\mathcal L}u\) is orthogonal to \(u\) on \(\partial B_m\) where \({\mathcal L}= (\delta_{ij}- z_i\overline z_j)\partial^2/\partial z_i\partial\overline z_j\); (iv) \(u\) is harmonic, and \(\lim_{r\to 1^-} e[u](rz)= m\) on the set \(\{z\in\partial B_m: E_b[u]= |\overline \partial_b\overline u(z)|^2+|\overline\partial_bu(z)|^2\neq 0\}\), where \(e[u]\) denotes the energy density of \(u\). Here \(|\overline\partial_b u|^2= \sum^m_{j= 1}\sum^n_{s= 1}|\overline X_j u^s|^2\) where \(\overline X_j= \sum^m_{i= 1} (\delta_{ij}- z_i\overline z_j) \partial/\partial z_i\).