Minimality and harmonicity for Hopf vector fields (Q5954287)

From the introducton: Let \((M,g)\) be a Riemannian manifold and let \((T_1M,g_S)\) be its unit tangent sphere bundle equipped with the Sasaki metric \(g_S\). A unit vector field \(\xi\) on \((M,g)\) determines a map from the manifold into its unit tangent sphere bundle, and the image of this map is a submanifold of \(M\). When \(M\) is closed and orientable, this gives rise to two functionals on the set of unit vector fields \(\chi^1(M)\): the energy of the map, called the energy of the vector field \(\xi\), and the volume of the submanifold, called the volume of \(\xi\). These functionals yield two critical point conditions, which may also be considered on general Riemannian manifold with non-empty \(\chi^1(M)\). A unit vector field \(\xi\) satisfying the first critical point condition is called a harmonic vector field, and a field \(\xi\) satisfying the second condition is said to be a minimal vector field. A minimal unit vector field corresponds to a minimal submanifold, but a harmonic unit vector field does not necessarily yield a harmonic map. The main purpose of this paper is to consider another natural class of manifolds equipped with a unit vector field. Let \((\overline M,g,J)\) be an almost Hermitian manifold and let \((M,g)\) be an orientable real hypersurface with induced metric \(g\). Furthermore, let \(N\) be a unit normal vector field of \(M\). Then \(\xi=-JN\) determines a unit tangent vector field on \(M\), called the Hopf vector field. Here we investigate the harmonicity and minimality condition for \(\xi\) and for the case when the ambient space \((\overline M,g,J)\) is a complex space form. In particular, we consider this situation when \((M,g)\) is a Hopf hypersurface, that is, when \(\xi\) is an eigenvector of the shape operator, or a ruled real hypersurface which is not of Hopf type. This again provides a series of examples, in particular for Hopf hypersurfaces with constant principal curvatures and for minimal ruled real hypersurfaces.