We consider codimension 2 sphere congruences in pseudo-conformal geometry that are harmonic with respect to the conformal structure of an orthogonal surface. We characterise the orthogonal surfaces of such congruences as either $S$-Willmore surfaces, quasi-umbilical surfaces, constant mean curvature surfaces in 3-dimensional space forms or surfaces of constant lightlike mean curvature in 3-dimensional lightcones. We then investigate Bryant's quartic differential in this context and show that generically this is divergence free if and only if the surface under consideration is either superconformal or orthogonal to a harmonic congruence of codimension 2 spheres. We may then apply the previous result to characterise surfaces with such a property.
This is the original manuscript dated March 9th 1983, typeset by the Editors for the Proceedings of the Midwest Geometry Conference 2007 held in memory of Thomas Branson. Stephen Paneitz passed away on September 1st 1983 while attending a conference in Clausthal and the manuscript was never published. For more than 20 years these few pages were circulated informally. In November 2004, as a service to the mathematical community, Tom Branson added a scan of the manuscript to his website. Here we make it available more formally. It is surely one of the most cited unpublished articles. The differe…
In this paper we expose on the dual 1-jet space J^{1*}(R,M^4) the distinguished (d-) Riemannian geometry (in the sense of d-connection, d-torsions, d-curvatures and some gravitational-like and electromagnetic-like geometrical models) for the (t,x)-conformal deformed Berwald-Moor Hamiltonian metric of order four.
Conformal harmonic maps from a 4-dimensional conformal manifold to a Riemannian manifold are maps satisfying a certain conformally invariant fourth order equation. We prove a general existence result for conformal harmonic maps, analogous to the Eells-Sampson theorem for harmonic maps. The proof uses a geometric flow and relies on results of Gursky-Viaclovsky and Lamm.
We discuss non-conformal harmonic surfaces in $R^3$ with prescribed ($\pm$)transforms, and we get a representation formula for non-conformal harmonic surfaces in $R^3$.
We show that under some non-degeneracy assumption the only submersive harmonic morphism on a conformally flat $3-$sphere is the Hopf fibration. The proof involves an appropriate use the Chern-Simons functional.
This paper is devoted to the study of the conformal spectrum (and more precisely the first eigenvalue) of the Laplace-Beltrami operator on a smooth connected compact Riemannian surface without boundary, endowed with a conformal class. We give a constructive proof of a critical metric which is smooth except at some conical singularities and maximizes the first eigenvalue in the conformal class of the background metric. We also prove that the map associating a finite number of eigenvectors of the maximizing $λ_1$ into the sphere is harmonic, establishing a link between conformal spectrum and har…
Harmonic morphisms are maps between Riemannian manifolds that pull back harmonic functions to harmonic functions. These maps are characterized as horizontally weakly conformal harmonic maps and they have many interesting links and applications to several areas in mathematics (see the book by Baird and Wood for details). In this paper, we study generalized harmonic morphisms which are defined to be maps between Riemannian manifolds that pull back harmonic functions to biharmonic functions. We obtain some characterizations of generalized harmonic morphisms into a Euclidean space and give two met…
We are studying the harmonic and twistor equation on Lorentzian surfaces, that is a two dimensional orientable manifold with a metric of signature $(1,1)$. We will investigate the properties of the solutions of these equations and try to relate the conformal invariant dimension of the space of harmonic and twistor spinors to the natural conformal invariants given by the Lorentzian metric. We will introduce the notion of semi-conformally flat surfaces and establish a complete classification of the possible dimensions for this family.
Minimal surfaces with isothermal parameters admitting Bézier representation were studied by Cosin and Monterde. They showed that, up to an affine transformation, the Enneper surface is the only bi-cubic isothermal minimal surface. Here we study bi-quartic isothermal minimal surfaces and establish the general form of their generating functions in the Weierstrass representation formula. We apply an approach proposed by Ganchev to compute the normal curvature and show that, in contrast to the bi-cubic case, there is a variety of bi-quartic isothermal minimal surfaces. Based on the Bezier represen…
We study the topology of a complete asymptotically hyperbolic Einstein manifold such that its conformal boundary has positive Yamabe invariant. We proved that all maps from such manifold into any nonpositively curved manifold are homotopically trivial. Our proof is based on a Bochner type argument on harmonic maps.
Consider an asymptotically flat Riemannian manifold $(M,g)$ of dimension $n \geq 3$ with nonempty compact boundary. We recall the harmonic conformal class $[g]_h$ of the metric, which consists of all conformal rescalings given by a harmonic function raised to an appropriate power. The geometric significance is that every metric in $[g]_h$ has the same pointwise sign of scalar curvature. For this reason, the harmonic conformal class appears in the study of general relativity, where scalar curvature is related to energy density. Our purpose is to introduce and study invariants of the harmonic co…
We prove that any (real or complex) analytic horizontally conformal submersion from a three-dimensional conformal manifold M to a two-dimensional conformal manifold N can be, locally, `extended' to a unique harmonic morphism from the heaven space of M to N.
Inspired by the all-important conformal invariance of harmonic maps on two-dimensional domains, this article studies the relationship between biharmonicity and conformality. We first give a characterization of biharmonic morphisms, analogues of harmonic morphisms investigated by Fuglede and Ishihara, which, in particular, explicits the conditions required for a conformal map in dimension four to preserve biharmonicity and helps producing the first example of a biharmonic morphism which is not a special type of harmonic morphism. Then, we compute the bitension field of horizontally weakly confo…
A vector field s on a Riemannian manifold M is said to be harmonic if there exists a member of a 2-parameter family of generalised Cheeger-Gromoll metrics on TM with respect to which s is a harmonic section. If M is a simply-connected non-flat space form other than the 2-sphere, examples are obtained of conformal vector fields that are harmonic. In particular, the harmonic Killing fields and conformal gradient fields are classified, a loop of non-congruent harmonic conformal fields on the hyperbolic plane constructed, and the 2-dimensional classification achieved for conformal fields. A classi…
For odd dimensional Poincaré-Einstein manifolds $(X^{n+1},g)$, we study the set of harmonic $k$-forms (for $k<\ndemi$) which are $C^m$ (with $m\in\nn$) on the conformal compactification $\bar{X}$ of $X$. This is infinite dimensional for small $m$ but it becomes finite dimensional if $m$ is large enough, and in one-to-one correspondence with the direct sum of the relative cohomology $H^k(\bar{X},\pl\bar{X})$ and the kernel of the Branson-Gover \cite{BG} differential operators $(L_k,G_k)$ on the conformal infinity $(\pl\bar{X},[h_0])$. In a second time we relate the set of $C^{n-2k+1}(Λ^k(\bar{X…
We study left-invariant foliations $\mathcal{F}$ on Riemannian Lie groups $G$ generated by a subgroup $K$. We are interested in such foliations which are conformal and with minimal leaves of codimension two. We classify such foliations $\mathcal{F}$ when the subgroup $K$ is one of the important $\textbf{SU}(2)\times\textbf{SU}(2)$, $\textbf{SU}(2)\times\textbf{SL}_2(\mathbb{R})$, $\textbf{SU}(2)\times\textbf{SO}(2)$ or $\textbf{SL}_2(\mathbb{R})\times\textbf{SO}(2)$. By this we yield new multi-dimensional families of Lie groups $G$ carrying such foliations in each case. These foliations $\math…
We prove that for any open Riemann surface $N,$ natural number $n\geq 3,$ non-constant harmonic map $h:N\to \mathbb{R}^{n-2}$ and holomorphic 2-form $H$ on $N,$ there exists a weakly complete harmonic map $X=(X_j)_{j=1,\ldots,n}:N \to \mathbb{R}^n$ with Hopf differential $H$ and $(X_j)_{j=3,\ldots,n}=h.$ In particular, there exists a complete conformal minimal immersion $Y=(Y_j)_{j=1,\ldots,n}:N \to \mathbb{R}^n$ such that $(Y_j)_{j=3,\ldots,n}=h.$ As a consequence of these results, complete full non-decomposable minimal surfaces with arbitrary conformal structure and whose generalized Gauss m…
The author has elsewhere given a complete classification of those compact oriented Einstein 4-manifolds on which the self-dual Weyl curvature is everywhere positive in the direction of some self-dual harmonic 2-form. In this article, similar results are obtained when the self-dual Weyl curvature is everywhere non-negative in the direction of a self-dual harmonic 2-form that is transverse to the zero section of the bundle of self-dual 2-forms. However, this transversality condition plays an essential role in the story; dropping it leads one into wildly different territory where entirely differe…
We describe for any Riemannian manifold a certain infinitesimal neighbourhood of the diagonal. Semi-conformal maps are analyzed as those that preserve such neighbourhoods; harmonic maps are analyzed as those that preserve mirror image formation for pairs of points in such neighbourhoods.
This note reviews some of the recent work on biharmonic conformal maps (see \cite{OC}, Chapter 11, for a detailed survey). It will be focused on biharmonic conformal immersions and biharmonic conformal maps between manifolds of the same dimension and their links to isoparametric functions and Yamabe type equations, though biharmonic morphisms (maps that preserve solutions of bi-Laplace equations), generalized harmonic morphisms (maps that pull back germs of harmonic functions to germs of biharmonic functions), and biharmonic conformal and Riemannian submersions will also be touched.
We prove that for any open Riemann surface $M$ and any non constant harmonic function $h:M \to \mathbb{R},$ there exists a complete conformal minimal immersion $X:M \to \mathbb{R}^3$ whose third coordinate function coincides with $h.$ As a consequence, complete minimal surfaces with arbitrary conformal structure and whose Gauss map misses two points are constructed.
This article studies the smoothness of conformal mappings between two Riemannian manifolds whose metric tensors have limited regularity. We show that any bi-Lipschitz conformal mapping or $1$-quasiregular mapping between two manifolds with $C^r$ metric tensors ($r > 1$) is a $C^{r+1}$ conformal (local) diffeomorphism. This result was proved in [12, 27, 33], but we give a new proof of this fact. The proof is based on $n$-harmonic coordinates, a generalization of the standard harmonic coordinates that is particularly suited to studying conformal mappings. We establish the existence of a $p$-harm…
The min-max construction of minimal spheres using harmonic replacement is introduced by Colding and Minicozzi and generalized by Zhou to conformal harmonic torus. We prove that the Morse index of the min-max conformal harmonic torus is bounded by one.
A Willmore surface $y:M\rightarrow S^{n+2}$ has a natural harmonic oriented conformal Gauss map $Gr_y:M\rightarrow SO^{+}(1,n+3)/SO(1,3)\times SO(n)$, which maps each point $p\in M$ to its oriented mean curvature 2-sphere at $p$. An easy observation shows that all conformal Gauss maps of Willmore surfaces satisfy a restricted nilpotency condition which will be called "strongly conformally harmonic." The goal of this paper is to characterize those strongly conformally harmonic maps from a Riemann surface $M$ to $SO^+ (1, n + 3)/{SO^+(1, 3) \times SO(n) }$ which are the conformal Gauss maps of s…
We propose a novel meshless method to compute harmonic maps and conformal maps for surfaces embedded in the Euclidean 3-space, using point cloud data only. Given a surface, or a point cloud approximation, we simply use the standard cubic lattice to approximate its $ε$-neighborhood. Then the harmonic map of the surface can be approximated by discrete harmonic maps on lattices. The conformal map, or the surface uniformization, is achieved by minimizing the Dirichlet energy of the harmonic map while deforming the target surface of constant curvature. We propose algorithms and numerical examples f…
f-Harmonic maps were first introduced and studied by Lichnerowicz in \cite{Li} (see also Section 10.20 in Eells-Lemaire's report \cite{EL}). In this paper, we study a subclass of f-harmonic maps called f-harmonic morphisms which pull back local harmonic functions to local f-harmonic functions. We prove that a map between Riemannian manifolds is an f-harmonic morphism if and only if it is a horizontally weakly conformal f-harmonic map. This generalizes the well-known Fuglede-Ishihara characterization for harmonic morphisms. Some properties and many examples as well as some non-existence of f-ha…
Let $S$ be a surface with a metric $d$ satisfying an upper curvature bound in the sense of Alexandrov (i.e. via triangle comparison). We show that an almost conformal harmonic map from a surface into $(S,d)$ is a branched covering. As a consequence, if $(S,d)$ is homeomorphically equivalent to the 2-sphere $\mathbb S^2$, then it is conformally equivalent to $\mathbb S^2$.
In this paper, we study the existence of harmonic and bi-harmonic maps into Riemannian manifolds admitting a conformal vector field, or a nontrivial Ricci solitons.
Riemann surfaces are two-dimensional manifolds with a conformal class of metrics. It is well known that the harmonic action functional and harmonic maps are tools to study the moduli space of Riemann surfaces. Super Riemann surfaces are an analogue of Riemann surfaces in the world of super geometry. After a short introduction to super differential geometry we will compare Riemann surfaces and super Riemann surfaces. We will see that super Riemann surfaces can be viewed as Riemann surfaces with an additional field, the gravitino. An extension of the harmonic action functional to super Riemann s…
In a recent paper the author introduced a new method based on viscosity techniques for producing minimal surfaces by minmax arguments. The present work corresponds to the regularity part of the method. Precisely we establish that any weakly conformal $W^{1,2}$ map from a riemann surface $S$ into a closed oriented sub-manifold $N^n$ of an euclidian space ${\mathbb R}^m$ realizes a stationary varifold if and only if it is a smooth conformal harmonic map form $S$ into $N^n$.
We define two transforms between non-conformal harmonic maps from a surface into the 3-sphere. With these transforms one can construct, from one such harmonic map, a sequence of harmonic maps. We show that there is a correspondence between non-conformal harmonic maps into the 3-sphere, $H$-surfaces in Euclidean 3-space and almost complex surfaces in the nearly Kähler manifold $S^3\times S^3$. As a consequence we can construct sequences of $H$-surfaces and almost complex surfaces.
Let $φ\in C^0 \cap W^{1,2}(Σ, X)$ where $Σ$ is a compact Riemann surface, $X$ is a compact locally CAT(1) space, and $W^{1,2}(Σ,X)$ is defined as in Korevaar-Schoen. We use the technique of harmonic replacement to prove that either there exists a harmonic map $u:Σ\to X$ homotopic to $φ$ or there exists a conformal harmonic map $v:\mathbb S^2 \to X$. To complete the argument, we prove compactness for energy minimizers and a removable singularity theorem for conformal harmonic maps.
We study conformal harmonic coordinates on Riemannian manifolds. These are coordinates constructed as quotients of solutions to the conformal Laplace equation. We show their existence under general conditions. We find that conformal harmonic coordinates are a close conformal analogue of harmonic coordinates. We prove up to boundary regularity results for conformal mappings. We show that Weyl, Cotton, Bach, and Fefferman-Graham obstruction tensors become elliptic operators in conformal harmonic coordinates if one normalizes the determinant of the metric. We give a corresponding elliptic regular…
We show that on any Riemannian manifold with Hölder continuous metric tensor, there exists a $p$-harmonic coordinate system near any point. When $p = n$ this leads to a useful gauge condition for regularity results in conformal geometry. As applications, we show that any conformal mapping between manifolds having $C^α$ metric tensors is $C^{1+α}$ regular, and that a manifold with $W^{1,n} \cap C^α$ metric tensor and with vanishing Weyl tensor is locally conformally flat if $n \geq 4$. The results extend the works [LS14, LS15] from the case of $C^{1+α}$ metrics to the Hölder continuous case. In…
The current paper discusses some new results about conformal polynomic surface parameterizations. A new theorem is proved: Given a conformal polynomic surface parameterization of any degree it must be harmonic on each component. As a first geometrical application, every surface that admits a conformal polynomic parameterization must be a minimal surface. This is not the case for rational conformal polynomic parameterizations, where the conformal condition does not imply that components must be harmonic. Finally, a new general theorem is established for conformal polynomic parameterizations of …
In this paper, we provide new discrete uniformization theorems for bounded, $m$-connected planar domains. To this end, we consider a planar, bounded, $m$-connected domain $Ω$ and let $\bordΩ$ be its boundary. Let $\mathcal{T}$ denote a triangulation of $Ω\cup\bordΩ$. We construct a \emph{new} decomposition of $Ω\cup\bordΩ$ into a finite union of quadrilaterals with disjoint interiors. The construction is based on utilizing a {\it pair} of harmonic functions on ${\mathcal T}^{(0)}$ and properties of their level curves. In the sequel \cite{Her3} it will be proved that a particular discrete schem…
Equivalences between conformal foliations on Euclidean $3$-space, Hermitian structures on Euclidean $4$-space, shear-free ray congruences on Minkowski $4$-space, and holomorphic foliations on complex $4$-space are explained geometrically and twistorially; these are used to show that 1) any real-analytic complex-valued harmonic morphism without critical points defined on an open subset of Minkowski space is conformally equivalent to the direction vector field of a shear-free ray congruence, 2) the boundary values at infinity of a complex-valued harmonic morphism on hyperbolic $4$-space define a…
Willmore surfaces are the extremals of the Willmore functional (possibly under a constraint on the conformal structure). With the characterization of Willmore surfaces by the (possibly perturbed) harmonicity of the mean curvature sphere congruence [Blaschke, Ejiri, Rigoli, Burstall-Calderbank], a zero-curvature formulation follows [Burstall-Calderbank]. Deformations on the level of harmonic maps prove to give rise to deformations on the level of surfaces, with the definition of a spectral deformation [Burstall-Pedit-Pinkall, Burstall-Calderbank] and of a Baecklund transformation [Burstall-Quin…
We construct a new class of biharmonic maps, which are the critical points for the bienergy functional, by deforming conformally the codomain metric of harmonic Riemannian submersions such that they become nonharmonic but biharmonic.
In this note we demonstrate how the analogy between the harmonic Gauss map of a constant mean curvature surface and the harmonic conformal Gauss map of a Willmore surface can be used to obtain results on Willmore surfaces.
We extend harmonic map techniques to the setting of more general differential equations in conformal geometry. We obtain an extension of Siu's rigidity to Kahler-Weyl geometry and apply the latter to Vaisman's conjecture. Other applications include topological obstructions to the existence of Kahler-Weyl structures. For example, we show that no co-compact lattice in SO(1,n), n>2, can be the fundamental group of a compact Kahler-Weyl manifold of certain type.
The concept of a conformal deformation has two natural extensions: quasiconformal and harmonic mappings. Both classes do not preserve the conformal type of the domain, however they cannot change it in an arbitrary way. Doubly connected domains are where one first observes nontrivial conformal invariants. Herbert Groetzsch and Johannes C. C. Nitsche addressed this issue for quasiconformal and harmonic mappings, respectively. Combining these concepts we obtain sharp estimates for quasiconformal harmonic mappings between doubly connected domains. We then apply our results to the Cauchy problem fo…
On four-dimensional closed manifolds we introduce a class of canonical Riemannian metrics, that we call weak harmonic Weyl metrics, defined as critical points in the conformal class of a quadratic functional involving the norm of the divergence of the Weyl tensor. This class includes Einstein and, more in general, harmonic Weyl manifolds. We prove that every closed four-manifold admits a weak harmonic Weyl metric, which is the unique (up to dilations) minimizer of the functional in a suitable conformal class. In general the problem is degenerate elliptic due to possible vanishing of the Weyl t…
