Quantization for biharmonic maps from non-collapsed degenerating Einstein 4-manifolds

Abstract

For a sequence of extrinsic or intrinsic biharmonic maps $u_j:M_j\to N$ from a sequence of non-collapsed degenerating closed Einstein 4-manifolds $(M_j,g_j)$ with bounded Einstein constants, bounded diameters and bounded $L^2$ curvature energy into a compact Riemannian manifold $(N,h)$ with uniformly bounded biharmonic energy, we establish a compactness theory modular finitely many bubbles, which are finite energy biharmonic maps from ${\mathbb{R}}^4$, or from ${\mathbb{R}}^4/\Gamma$ for some nontrivial finite group $\Gamma \subset SO(4)$, or from some complete, noncompact, Ricci flat, non-flat ALE 4-manifold (orbifold). To achieve this, we develop a sophisticated asymptotic analysis for solutions over degenerating neck regions.

72 pages