Constant curvature solutions of Grassmannian sigma models. II: Non-holomorphic solutions (Q390922)

The authors continue their study of immersions of the two-dimensional sphere \(S^2\) into complex Grassmannian manifolds \(G(m,n)\). The elements of \(G(m,n)\) are described by complex \(n\times m\) matrices \(Z\) subject to the constraint \(Z^HZ=I_m\), where the symbol \(H\) denotes Hermitian conjugation, and \(I_m\) denotes the \(m\times m\) identity matrix. There is a concept of minimality for immersions of \(S^2\) into \(G(m,n)\), which relies on the Lagrange density \[ \mathcal{L}(Z):=\frac{1}{2}\text{Tr}\left[(D_+Z)^HD_+Z+(D_-Z)^HD_-Z\right], \] where \(D_\pm Z:=\partial_\pm Z-ZZ^H\partial_\pm Z\), \(\partial_\pm :=\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{\partial}{\partial x}\mp\text{i}\frac{\partial}{\partial y}\right)\) (\(S^2\) being regarded as the usual one-point compactification of \(\mathbb{R}^2\)). The authors recall a procedure of constructing minimal immersions. In the sequel, having recalled that the curvature of an immersion is \(-\frac{1}{\mathcal{L}(Z)}\partial_+\partial_-\ln\mathcal{L}(Z)\), they distinguish those cases, in which the result of the mentioned procedure is of constant curvature. Having studied holomorphic immersions of this kind in Part I [J. Geom. Phys. 66, 24--36 (2013; Zbl 1271.53061)], they treat here the non-holomorphic case. The question of determining all minimal immersions of constant curvature, holomorphic and not, is settled in the case of \(G(1,n)\), the projective space \(\mathbb CP^{n-1}\). Here, the so-called Veronese curve \(f^{(n)}:S^2\rightarrow\mathbb CP^{n-1}\), \[ f^{(n)}(z)=\left(1, \sqrt{{n-1 \choose 1}}z,\ldots ,\sqrt{{n-1 \choose r}}z^r,\ldots,z^{n-1}\right)^T, \] \(z=x+iy\), which is the only holomorphic minimal immersion of constant curvature, plays an important role. For \(G(m,n)\) with \(m>1\) the situation is less clear. Nevertheless, the authors describe a fairly general method of constructing minimal immersions of constant curvature, this time focussing on non-holomorphic ones. They also discuss possible values of this curvature in detail.