Stress energy tensor for symphonic maps (Q2328192)

A symphonic map was introduced in [\textit{S. Kawai} and the author, Nonlinear Anal., Theory Methods Appl., Ser. A, Theory Methods 74, No. 6, 2284--2295 (2011; Zbl 1218.58012)] as a map \(\phi: (M^m, g)\to (N^n, h)\) between Riemannian manifolds which is a critical point of the symphonic energy \[ E_{\mathrm{sym}}(\phi)=\int_D |\phi^{*}h|^2dv_g =\int_D\sum_{i,j=1}^m \langle d\phi(e_i), d \phi(e_j)\rangle^2dv_g \] over any compact domain \(D\subset M\), where \(\{e_i\}\) is a local orthonormal frame on \(M\). Note that the energy functional whose critical points defined to be harmonic maps is given by \[ E(\phi)=\frac{1}{2}\int_D |d \phi|^2dv_g =\frac{1}{2}\int_D \mathrm{Tr}_g(\phi^{*}h) dv_g= \frac{1}{2}\int_D\sum_{i=1}^m \langle d\phi(e_i), d \phi(e_i)\rangle dv_g. \] The first variation of the symphonic energy functional gives (see [\textit{S. Kawai} and the author, Nonlinear Anal., Theory Methods Appl., Ser. A, Theory Methods 74, No. 6, 2284--2295 (2011; Zbl 1218.58012)]) the symphonic map equation as \[ \operatorname{div} (\phi^{*}h)^b=0, \] where \((\phi^{*}h)^b\) denotes the \(\phi^{-1}TN\)-valued \(1\)-form on \(M\) defined by \((\phi^{*}h)^b(X)=\sum_{i=1}^m\langle d \phi(X), d\phi(e_i)\rangle d\phi(e_i)\). For some basic results, stability, Hölder continuity, and global existence for the heat flow of symphonic maps see [\textit{S. Kawai} and the author, Nonlinear Anal., Theory Methods Appl., Ser. A, Theory Methods 74, No. 6, 2284--2295 (2011; Zbl 1218.58012); Differ. Geom. Appl. 44, 161--177 (2016; Zbl 1331.53094)], [\textit{M. Misawa} and the author, Nonlinear Anal., Theory Methods Appl., Ser. A, Theory Methods 75, No. 15, 5971--5974 (2012; Zbl 1248.58008); Calc. Var. Partial Differ. Equ. 55, No. 1, Paper No. 16, 20 p. (2016; Zbl 1348.58008); Adv. Differ. Equ. 23, No. 9--10, 693--724 (2018; Zbl 1406.58011)]. The paper under review introduces the stress energy tensor for symphonic maps and studies its relation to the variation of metric and weakly conformal maps.