Harmonic cellular maps which are not diffeomorphisms (Q706140)

The following interesting examples of negatively curved manifolds and harmonic maps are constructed: For every integer \(m\geq 11\), there is a harmonic cellular map between a pair of closed negatively curved \(m\)-dimensional Riemannian manifolds which is not a diffeomorphism. However, it can be approximated by diffeomorphisms. Given \(\varepsilon>0\), there is also a one-parameter family of Riemannian metrics \((\mu_s)_{0\leq s\leq1}\) on some closed orientable smooth \(m\)-dimensional manifold such that \(\mu_1\) is hyperbolic, the sectional curvatures of all \(\mu_s\) are in \((1-\varepsilon,1+\varepsilon)\), and both (unique) harmonic maps homotopic to the identity from \((M,\mu_0)\) to \((M,\mu_1)\) and vice versa are not one-to-one. Both examples rely on a (rather explicit) construction of \(\varepsilon\)-pinched perturbations of a closed real hyperbolic manifold in such a way that both manifolds are homeomorphic but not PL-homeomorphic.