The existence of harmonic maps from Finsler manifolds to Riemannian manifolds (Q2458354)

The paper investigates the existence of harmonic maps from Finsler manifolds to Riemannian manifolds, and their characterization in the spirit of [\textit{T. Ishihara}, J. Math. Kyoto Univ., No.~19, 215--229 (1979; Zbl 0421.31006)]. Using the heat equation method, it is shown that any smooth map from a compact Finsler manifold to a compact Riemannian manifold with non-positive sectional curvature is homotopic to a harmonic map which has the minimal energy in its homotopy class.