Infinite families of harmonic self-maps of spheres (Q897820)

For each of the spheres \(S^n\), \(n\geq5\), the author constructs a new infinite family of harmonic self-maps, and proves that their members have Brouwer degree \(\pm1\) or \(\pm3\). These self-maps are obtained by solving a singular boundary value problem. As an application, it is proved that for each of the special orthogonal groups \(\mathrm{SO}(4)\), \(\mathrm{SO}(5)\), \(\mathrm{SO}(6)\) and \(\mathrm{SO}(7)\), there exist two infinite families of harmonic self-maps.