Concentrated boundary data and axially symmetric harmonic maps (Q685951)

We examine the existence problem for harmonic maps between the three- dimensional ball and the two-sphere. We utilize results on the classification of harmonic maps into hemispheres and a result on the regularity of the weak limit of energy minimizers over the class of axially symmetric maps to establish the existence of a smooth harmonic extension for boundary data suitably ``concentrated'' away from the axis of symmetry. In addition, we establish convergence results for the harmonic map heat flow problem for suitably ``concentrated'' axially symmetric initial and boundary data.