No label defined (Q4804777)

The infinite dimensional methods of integrable systems have been used to study harmonic maps from a Riemann surface into a Lie group, associating to each harmonic map \({\mathbb S}^{2} \to G\) an extended harmonic map \({\mathbb S}^{2} \to \Omega G\), \(G\) being a compact Lie group and \(\Omega G\) its based loop group. \textit{K. Uhlenbeck} [J. Differ. Geom. 30, 1-50 (1989; Zbl 0677.58020)] used this correspondence to introduce a group action and a factorisation of harmonic maps. The article under review takes advantage of the fact that unitons have algebraic extended solutions and the Bruhat decomposition of \(\Omega G\) to show that various actions of loop groups preserve the components of the Bruhat decomposition and, therefore, the uniton numbers. This approach also enables a reformulation of the extended uniton equations and their factorisation, when \(G= \roman{SO}(2l), \roman{SO}(2l+1)\) or \(\roman{Sp}(l)\), into a product of generalised \(G\)-flag factors.