The energy of unit vector fields on the 3-sphere (Q5927610)

Unit vector fields \(X\) on Riemannian manifolds \(M\) can be considered as maps \(X: M\to T^1M\), where \(T^1M\) is the unit tangent bundle equipped with the Sasaki metric induced from the Riemannian structure of \(M\). If \(M\) is compact, the energy \(E(X)\) of any such \(X\) is defined (as usually) as the integral over \(M\) of the squared norm of the differential \(dX\). The authors study variational properties of the functional \(X\mapsto E(X)\) and prove that (in the case of \(M = S^3\)) the classical Hopf vector fields are the unique global minima for \(E\). This last result was obtained also by \textit{F. G. B. Brito} [Differ. Geom. Appl. 12, 157-163 (2000; Zbl 0995.53023)], and can be derived from a bit more general fact proved by \textit{F. G. B. Brito} and the reviewer [Ann. Polon. Math 73, 269-274 (2000; Zbl 0997.53025)].