Symmetric boundary values for the Dirichlet problem for harmonic maps from the disc into the 2-sphere (Q2461557)

The energy of mappings \(D^2\to S^2\) is invariant under the action of \(\text{Aut}(D)\times O(3)\) acting on \(D^2\times S^2\), where \(\text{Aut}(D)\) is the group of biholomorphic diffeomorphisms of \(D^2\) to itself. Given Dirichlet boundary data \(\gamma:\partial D\to S^2\) are invariant under some (maybe trivial) subgroup of \(\text{Aut}(D)\times O(3)\). The possible stabilizer subgroups of boundary data in the natural classes \(H^{1/2}(S^1,S^2)\) and \(C^0(S^1,S^2)\) are classified in the paper. In the positively oriented part \(\text{Aut}(G)^+\times SO(3)\), the possible stabilizers of nonconstant data are conjugate to a rotation group generated by a rotation of some angle \(\alpha\) in the first factor and of some angle \(n\alpha\) (\(n\in \mathbb N\)) in the second factor. Note that this group may be finite or infinite depending on whether \(\alpha/\pi\) is rational. As an application of the symmetry considerations, the author proves existence of nonsymmetric Dirichlet data for which there are at least two distinct solutions belonging to the same homotopy class. Also, he shows that there are data which allow a continuum of distinct solutions.