On representing homotopy classes of spheres by harmonic maps (Q676984)

The authors are interested in obtaining harmonic representatives for certain homotopy classes in the higher order homotopy groups of real spheres. The main result of the present paper is the following theorem: Let \(p\geq 1\), then the element 2 (twice the generator) in the homotopy group \(\pi_{16p+j} (S^{16p+j})\) admits a harmonic representative, provided the integer \(j\) satisfies one of the following conditions: (i) \(j=7,9,11,13\), or 15; (ii) \(j=1,3\), or 5, and \(p=1\pmod{16}\), \(p>1\).