Non existence of quasi-harmonic spheres (Q2380797)

A harmonic sphere \(S^p\) in a Riemannian manifold \(N\) refers to a harmonic map \(S^p\longrightarrow N\); a quasi-harmonic sphere in \(N\) means a harmonic map \((\mathbb{R}^n, e^{-|x|^2/2(n-2)}ds_0^2)\longrightarrow N\) from a conformally flat space into \(N\) with finite energy. These two concepts have important application in studying harmonic maps via the heat flow method initiated by \textit{J. Eells} and \textit{J. H. Sampson} [Am. J. Math. 86, 109--169 (1964; Zbl 0122.40102)]. They proved that, when the target space is non-positively curved then the heat flow has a global solution which subconverges strongly to a harmonic map at infinity. \textit{F. Lin} and \textit{C. Wang} [Commun. Anal. Geom. 7, No.~2, 397--429 (1999; Zbl 0934.58018)] showed that the heat flow is actually smooth if the target manifold does not contain harmonic and quasi-harmonic spheres with finite energy. Noting that the square of the distance function on the universal covering of a non-positively curved manifold is a non-negative strictly convex function, \textit{W. Ding} and \textit{F. Lin} [J. Partial Differ. Equations 5, No.~4, 13--22 (1992; Zbl 0765.58008)] generalized Eells-Sampson's theorem by replacing ``the non-positively curved'' condition on \(N\) by assuming the universal covering of \(N\) admits a non-negative strictly convex function with quadratic growth. The main purpose of the paper under review is to generalize Ding-Lin's result by proving that Eells-Sampson' theorem remains true the universal covering of \(N\) admits a non-negative strictly convex function with polynomial growth. The paper also gives a convergence theorem about the global heat flow of harmonic maps and a Liouville type theorem about harmonic maps.