Bubbling and Homotopic Energy Minimizers in Metric Spaces

This lecture by Damaris Meier explores the phenomenon of "bubbling" in the context of energy minimizers within homotopy classes of continuous maps from closed Riemannian surfaces to compact Riemannian manifolds. Discover a novel, conceptually simple approach to proving the existence of energy minimizers in homotopy classes that applies to general metric space targets. Learn how this method, which only requires the target space to be compact, quasiconvex, and satisfy a local quadratic isoperimetric inequality, generalizes the influential work of Sacks and Uhlenbeck on minimal 2-spheres. The 52-minute presentation from the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics covers joint research with Noa Vikman and Stefan Wenger, offering mathematical insights into energy minimization problems beyond traditional Riemannian manifold settings.