Generalized Dirichlet forms and harmonic maps (Q2564716)

One of the aims of the author is to combine the theory of Dirichlet spaces and the theory of harmonic mappings with values in Riemannian manifolds. This is achieved by introducing generalized Dirichlet forms (energy forms). They are defined for suitable \(L^2\)-maps from some measure space into a metric space. A contraction property, closedness and a density property are required. Later on the metric space is supposed to be of nonpositive curvature in the sense of Alexandrov and further additional assumptions are made (e.g., a ball doubling property and a weak Poincaré inequality). This leads to Harnack inequalities for weak supersolutions and local Hölder continuity of minimizers for the energy form.