\(p\)-harmonic 1-forms on complete manifolds (Q2267739)

Let \(M\) be a complete, non-compact, oriented Riemannian manifold with asymptotically non-negative Ricci curvature. The authors study the space of \(p\)-harmonic 1-forms on \(M\) of Lebesgue class \(L^q\) for \(0 < q < \infty\) and for general \(p > 1\). In the main theorem, it is proved that, if the first Betti number of \(M\) is finite, then a bounded set of \(p\)-harmonic 1-forms on \(M\) of Lebesgue class \(L^q\) contains a uniformly convergent subsequence, i.e., it is relatively compact with respect to the uniform convergence topology. As an application, they obtain an alternative proof to a theorem of \textit{P. Li} and \textit{L.-F. Tam} [J. Differ. Geom. 41, No.~2, 277--318 (1995; Zbl 0827.53033)] that a complete, non-compact manifold \(M\) with asymptotically non-negative Ricci curvature and finite first Betti number has a finite number of ends. The main theorem can be suitably generalized to the space of \(p\)-harmonic maps from a complete, non-compact Riemannian manifold \(M\) with asymptotically non-negative Ricci curvature to a complete Riemannian manifold \(N\) with non-positive sectional curvature.