Bubbling analysis for extrinsic biharmonic maps from general Riemannian 4-manifolds (Q2688132)

For a map \(u: (M,g)\to (N,h)\) between Riemannian manifold, we have a map \(i \circ u: (M,g)\to \mathbb{R}^k\) into a Euclidean space, where \(i: (N, h)\to \mathbb{R}^k\) is an isometric embedding whose existence is guaranteed by Nash's embedding theorem. The formula of the tension field for the composition of maps gives the relation \(di (\tau (u))= \Delta (i\circ u) +B(u) (du, du)\), or, with abuse of notations, \(\tau (u)= \Delta ( u) +B(u)(du, du)\), where \(B(u)\) denotes the second fundamental form of \(i\). Extrinsic and intrinsic biharmonic maps are, respectively, the critical points of the following bienergies \[ E_{\mathrm{ext}}: =\frac{1}{2}\int_\Omega |\Delta u|^2\,v_g,\;\;,\;\;\;E_{\mathrm{int}}: =\frac{1}{2}\int_\Omega |\tau(u)|^2\,v_g,\;\; \tag{1} \] where \(\Omega\) is any compact domain of \(M\). For some recent study and progress on intrinsic biharmonic maps see a recent book [\textit{Y.-L. Ou} and \textit{B.-Y. Chen}, Biharmonic submanifolds and biharmonic maps in Riemannian geometry. Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific (2020; Zbl 1455.53002)] and the vast references therein.\\ Regularity and blow-up analysis of extrinsic biharmonic maps from 4-dimensional Euclidean domain have been studied in many literature. For example, the energy identity and the no neck property hold for such maps. The paper under review generalizes these results to the case of extrinsic biharmonic maps from a generic 4-manifold by new ideas and a generalized Poho\={z}aev identity.