Harmonic metrics, harmonic tensors, and Gauss maps (Q796158)

Given a Riemannian manifold (M,g), a Riemannian metric G on M is said to be harmonic (with respect to g) if the identity map \(L_ M:(M,g)\to(M,G)\) is harmonic. The space \({\mathcal H}_ g\) of these is then shown to be a large star set in its ''tangent space'' \(T_ g({\mathcal H}_ g)\subset S (=symmetric\) covariant 2-tensors) which are then called harmonic with respect to g. Using the Berger-Ebin decomposition the authors further prove that \(T_ g({\mathcal H}_ g)\) is isomorphic to the kernel of the codifferential \(\delta\) acting on S. The object of the paper is to show the wide range applicability of the harmonic tensors, e.g. their relations with the holomorphic and geodesic vector fields and nullity of the identity map \(1_ M:(M,g)\to(M,g)\). Finally the authors derive a necessary and sufficient condition (involving harmonic tensors) of an immersion to be harmonic which is then applied yielding various results (e.g. in the Ruh-Vilms problem of harmonicity of Gauss maps).