Heterotopic energy for Sobolev mappings

Abstract

We study the notion of heterotopic energy defined as the limit of Sobolev energies of Sobolev mappings in a given homotopy class approximating almost everywhere a given Sobolev mapping. We show that the heterotopic energy is finite if and only if the mappings in the corresponding homotopy classes are homotopic on a codimension one skeleton of a triangulation of the domain. When this is the case, the heterotopic energy of a mapping is the sum of its Sobolev energy and its disparity energy, defined as the minimum energy of a bubble to pass between these homotopy classes. At the more technical level, we rely on a framework that works when the target and domain manifolds are not simply connected and there is no canonical isomorphism between homotopy groups with different basepoints.

39 pages; Revised version; accepted for publication at Commun. Contemp. Math.; Minor typo fixes and corrections