Some examples of Dirac-harmonic maps (Q2000938)

There has been a considerable interest for Dirac-harmonic maps in geometric analysis in recent years. As a matter of fact, Dirac-harmonic maps are the fermionic analogue of the harmonic map equation. While harmonic maps are stationary points of the classical energy functional \(f\mapsto\frac{1}{2}\int_M |\mathrm{d}f|^2 \mathrm{d} v^M\), Dirac-harmonic maps are stationary points of the functional \((f,\Phi)\mapsto \frac{1}{2}\int_M(|\mathrm{d}f|^2 +<\Phi,D^f\Phi>)\mathrm{d} v^M\) which is interpreted as the fermionic counterpart of the classical energy functional. In a previous paper [Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 47, No. 3--4, 739--762 (2013; Zbl 1275.58010)], the authors proved an existence result for Dirac-harmonic maps by using index-theoretical tools. In the current paper, the authors improve the results in [\textit{J. Jost} et al., J. Geom. Phys. 59, No. 11, 1512--1527 (2009; Zbl 1183.58011)] and construct new explicit examples of Dirac-harmonic maps.