Harmonic maps from degenerating Riemann surfaces (Q846880)

In the analytic study of harmonic maps, a beautiful compactness theorem due to \textit{J. Sacks} and \textit{K. Uhlenbeck} [Ann. Math. (2) 113, 1--24 (1981; Zbl 0462.58014)] states that any sequence of harmonic maps \(f_n : M \longrightarrow N\) from a fixed compact Riemann surface to a compact Riemannian manifold with uniform energy bound has a subsequence that converges uniformly in \(C^1\) away from a finite number of points \(\{p_1,\dots, p_k\}\in M\) to a limiting harmonic map \(f : M \longrightarrow N\). Those points (called blow-up points) correspond to harmonic maps from the standard two-sphere \(S^2\) into \(N\) the presence of which is due to energy concentrating near each point \(p_i\) as \(n\) goes to infinity. These harmonic maps from \(S^2\) into \(N\) are called ``bubbles'' in the theory. During the ``bubbling'' process, there are necks connecting the base \(f : M \longrightarrow N\) to the bubbles or one bubble to the next. \textit{J. Jost} [Two-dimensional Geometric Variational Problems. Pure and Applied Mathematics. Chichester etc.: John Wiley \& Sons (1991; Zbl 0729.49001)] proved that there is no energy loss in the limit, meaning that these necks contain no energy. \textit{T. H. Parker} [J. Differ. Geom. 44, No. 3, 595--633 (1996; Zbl 0874.58012)] showed that these necks converge to points in the target space, meaning that the base and the bubbles are actually connected in the limit. The paper under review studies the compactness theorem and the energy identity for the sequence of harmonic maps \(u_n: (\Sigma_n, h_n, c_n)\longrightarrow N\), where \((\Sigma_n, h_n, c_n)\) denotes a sequence of closed hyperbolic Riemann surfaces of genus \(g>1\), with complete metric \(h_n\) of constant curvature \(-1\), and compatible complex structure \(c_n\). Under the assumptions that the energy of the harmonic maps is uniformly bounded and that the sequence of the hyperbolic Riemann surfaces \((\Sigma_n, h_n, c_n)\) degenerates to a hyperbolic Riemann surface \((\Sigma, h, c)\), the author obtains the compactness theorem in \(W^{1,2}\) and \(C^0\) modulo bubbles of sequences of such harmonic maps. A generalized energy identity for harmonic maps from degenerating surfaces is also given. Here, \((\Sigma_n, h_n, c_n)\) degenerates to a hyperbolic Riemann surface \((\Sigma, h, c)\) by collapsing a finite set of pairwise disjoint simple closed geodesics on each member surface in the sequence.