Nonexistence of proper \(p\)-biharmonic maps and Liouville type theorems. I: Case of \(p\ge 2\) (Q2210139)

For \(p >1\), the \(p\)-energy of a map \(u: (M^n, g) \to (N^m, h)\) between Riemannian manifolds is defined by \(E_p(u) = \int_M |\tau(u)|^p dv_g\), where \(\tau(u)\) is the tension field of \(u\). Critical points of the \(p\)-energy functional \(E_p\) are called \(p\)-biharmonic maps. In this paper, the authors extend a nonexistence result in [\textit{Y. Han} and \textit{W. Zhang}, J. Korean Math. Soc. 52, No. 5, 1097--1108 (2015; Zbl 1325.58006)], and as a corollary, they show a Liouville-type theorem for \(p\)-harmonic maps. More precisely, let \(u: (M, g) \to (N, h)\) be a \(p\)-biharmonic map, \(p \ge 2\) from a complete Riemannian manifold \((M, g)\) into a Riemannian manifold \((N, h)\) of nonpositive sectional curvature satisfying \(\int_M |\tau(u)|^s dv_g <\infty\) for \(p-1 < s\). If either \(\int_M |du|^q dv_g < \infty\) for \(1 \le q\le \infty\), or \(\mathrm{Vol}(M, g) = \infty\), then \(u\) must be harmonic. In case of \(q = 2\) and \(s = p+a\) with \(a \ge 0\), the result is due to Han and Zhang [loc. cit.]. As a corollary, the authors prove that if \(u: (M, g) \to (N, h)\) is a \(p\)-biharmonic map, \(p \ge 2\) from a complete Riemannian manifold \((M, g)\) with nonnegative Ricci curvature into a Riemannian manifold \((N, h)\) of nonpositive sectional curvature such that \(\int_M \left(|\tau(u)|^s + |du|^q \right)dv_g <\infty\) for \(p-1 < s, 1 < q\), then \(u\) must be a constant map.