Stable quasi-harmonic spheres (Q431057)

Given two Riemannian manifolds \(M\) and \(N\) of dimensions \(m\) and \(n\) respectively, a \textit{harmonic map} from \(M\) to \(N\) is a critical point of the energy functional \[ E(u)=\frac{1}{2} \int_M | \nabla u|^2 dV_M \] under all compactly supported smooth variations of \(u\). A \textit{quasi-harmonic sphere} is a harmonic map from \((\mathbb{R}^n, e^{-| x|^2/2(n-2)}ds_0^2)\) to a Riemannian manifold \(N\) with finite energy, where \(ds_0^2\) is the Euclidean metric. Quasi-harmonic spheres arise in the blow-up analysis of the heat flow at a singular point. In the paper [\textit{Y. L. Xin}, ``Some results on stable harmonic maps'', Duke Math. J. 47, 609--613 (1980; Zbl 0513.58019)], it is proved that there is no nonconstant stable harmonic sphere when \(n\geq 3\). In the paper under review, the author proves that there is no nonconstant stable quasi-harmonic sphere.