Boundary equations and regularity theory for geometric variational systems with Neumann data (Q724355)

In this deep and interesting paper, the author studies boundary regularity of maps from two-dimensional domains into manifolds which are critical with respect to a generic conformally invariant variational functional and which, at the boundary, intersect perpendicularly with a support manifold. We recall that, for instance, harmonic maps, or H-surfaces, with a partially free boundary condition satisfy the conditions of this paper. The interior regularity of the solution comes from the fact that these maps satisfy a system with an antisymmetric potential as it is proved in a celebrated work by Rivière. In this paper, the author proves boundary regularity for solutions to such systems by showing that these maps satisfy along the boundary a system of equations which also exhibits a (nonlocal) antisymmetric potential that combines information from the interior potential and the geometric Neumann boundary condition. It is notable that this result is obtained avoiding a reflection argument.