Balanced homogeneous harmonic maps between cones (Q6631325)

The cone over the topological space \(X\) is\N\[\NC(X) = \big( X \times [0 , \, + \infty ) \big) \big/ (x, \, 0) \sim (y, \, 0) .\N\]\NA map of cones \(f : C(X) \to C(Y)\) is homogeneous of degree \(\alpha > 0\) if \(f \big( [x, \, t ] \big) = \big[ y(x), \, t^\alpha \, s(x) \big]\) for some functions \(y : X \to Y\) and \(s : X \to [0, \, + \infty )\). Let \(\{ x_1 \, , \, \cdots \, , \, x_n \}\) be a finite set, with the discrete topology. The cone \(C(n) := C \big( \{ x_1 \, , \, \cdots \, , \, x_n \} \big)\) is a \(n\)-pod. The sets \(C(x_j ) := \{ x_j \} \times [0, \, + \infty )\) are the edges of the \(n\)-pod \(C(n)\). Let \(\Gamma\) be a connected finite graph and \(\theta : E(\Gamma ) \to (0, \, \pi )\) a function on the edge set of \(\Gamma\). Let \(C(\Gamma ) := C \big( V(\Gamma ) \big)\) be the cone over \(V(\Gamma )\) [an \(n\)-pod with \(n = \big| V(G) \big|\)]. For every vertex \(v \in V(G)\) and edge \(e = \{ x , \, y \} \in E(G)\) the edges [respectively the \textit{faces}] of \(C(\Gamma )\) are \(C(v) = \{ v \} \times [0, \, + \infty )\) [respectively \(C(e) = C \big( \{ x, \, y \} \big)\)]. Let \(C(\Gamma \, , \, \theta )\) be \(C(\Gamma )\) with the metric determined by \(\theta\). Each face \(C(e)\) is homeomorphic to a sector \(S_{\theta (e)} = \big\{ r \, e^{i \theta} \in {\mathbb C} \; : \; 0 \leq \theta \leq \theta (e) , \;\; r \geq 0 \big\}\). A homogeneous map \(f : C(\Gamma \, , \, \theta ) \to C(\Gamma \, , \, \varphi )\), mapping each edge and face of \(C(\Gamma )\) to itself, is harmonic if the restriction of \(f\) to every face of \(C(\Gamma \, , \, \theta )\) is a harmonic map of sectors in \(\mathbb C\). Homogeneous harmonic maps of the sort were used [\textit{M. Gromov} and \textit{R. Schoen}, Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 76, 165--246 (1992; Zbl 0896.58024)] to model the local behavior of harmonic maps between singular spaces. The paper under review is devoted to the study of the degrees of homogeneous harmonic maps and their relationship to the spectrae of combinatorial Laplacians. \N\N\{\textbf{Reviewer's comments}: This is a beautiful and very well written paper suitable for learning about harmonic maps between singular spaces.\}