Harmonic quasi-isometric maps. III: Quotients of Hadamard manifolds (Q6038628)

Let $M$ and $Y$ be complete, noncompact Riemannian manifolds of pinched negative sectional curvature and let $Y$ be simply connected. Assume that the convex core of $M$ is compact, and let \(f : M \rightarrow Y\) be locally quasi-isometric at infinity. The authors prove that there is a harmonic map \(h : M \rightarrow Y\) such that \(d(f,h)\) is finite, this extending previous results in [\textit{J. Eells jun.} and \textit{J. H. Sampson}, Am. J. Math. 86, 109--160 (1964; Zbl 0122.40102); \textit{M. Lemm} and \textit{V. Markovic}, J. Differ. Geom. 108, No. 3, 495--529 (2018; Zbl 1401.53030)]. A pinched Hadamard manifold is a complete, simply connected Riemannian manifold \(X\) whose sectional curvatures lie between negative constants \(-a^{2}\) and \(-b^{2}\). Two geodesic rays \(\gamma: [0, \infty) \rightarrow X\) and \(\sigma [0, \infty) \rightarrow X\) are (asymptotically) equivalent if \(d(\gamma , \sigma)\) is finite. The boundary sphere \(X(\infty)\) is the set of equivalence classes of geodesic rays of \({X}\), and the set \(\overline{X} = X \cup X(\infty)\) is compact in a natural topology. \noindent Let \(\Gamma\) be a discrete subgroup of \(I(X)\) acting properly discontinuously on \(X\) and define the limit set \(L(\Gamma) \subset X(\infty)\) to be \(\overline{\Gamma(x)} \cap X(\infty)\), where \(x\) is an arbitrary point of \(M\) and \(\overline{\Gamma(x)}\) denotes the closure of the orbit \(\Gamma(x)\) in \(\overline{X}\). Let \(\mathrm{conv}~L(\Gamma)\) denote the intersection of all geodesically convex sets \(C\) of \(M\) such that \(\overline{C} - C = L(\Gamma)\). Define the convex core of the manifold \(M = \Gamma \setminus X\) to be the set \(K = \Gamma \setminus \mathrm{conv}~L(\Gamma)\). The manifold \(M\) is said to be convex cocompact if \(K\) is compact. Equivalently, as the authors show in this article, \(M\) is convex cocompact if and only if \(M\) is Gromov hyperbolic and the injectivity radius \(\mathrm{inj} : M \rightarrow (0, \infty)\) is a proper function. \noindent For $M$ one defines a boundary at infinity \(\partial_{\infty} M\) in a manner similar to the definition of \(X(\infty)\) but using geodesic rays of \(M\). Let \(\overline{M} = M \cup \partial_{\infty} M\) denote the corresponding compactification of $M$. \noindent Let \(X\) and \(Y\) be pinched Hadamard manifolds and let \(M = \Gamma \setminus X\) be as above. A function \(f : M \rightarrow Y\) is said to be locally quasi-isometric at infinity if (a) \(f\) is rough Lipschitz and (b) for every element \(\xi \in \partial_{\infty} M\) there exists a neighborhood \(U_{\xi} \subset \overline{M}\) such that \(f : U_{\xi} \cap M \rightarrow Y\) is quasi-isometric. The main result of the authors is the following: Theorem. Let $X$ and $Y$ be pinched Hadamard manifolds. Let \(\Gamma \subset I(X)\) be a discrete subgroup that acts properly discontinuously on \(X\). Let \(M = \Gamma \setminus X\) be noncompact but convex cocompact and let \(f : M \rightarrow Y\) be locally quasi-isometric at infinity. Then there exists a harmonic map \(h : M \rightarrow Y\) such that \(d(f,h)\) is finite.