Liouville theorem for [formula omitted]-harmonic maps under non-negative [formula omitted]-Ricci curvature for non-positive [formula omitted

Abstract

Let V be a C1-vector field on an n-dimensional complete Riemannian manifold (M,g). We prove a Liouville theorem for V-harmonic maps satisfying various growth conditions from complete Riemannian manifolds with non-negative (m,V)-Ricci curvature for m∈[−∞,0]∪[n,+∞] into Cartan–Hadamard manifolds, which extends Cheng’s Liouville theorem proved in Cheng (1980) for sublinear growth harmonic maps from complete Riemannian manifolds with non-negative Ricci curvature into Cartan–Hadamard manifolds. We also prove a Liouville theorem for V-harmonic maps from complete Riemannian manifolds with non-negative (m,V)-Ricci curvature for m∈[−∞,0]∪[n,+∞] into regular geodesic balls of Riemannian manifolds with positive upper sectional curvature bound, which extends the results of Hildebrandt et al. (1980) and Choi (1982). Our probabilistic proof of Liouville theorem for several growth V-harmonic maps into Hadamard manifolds enhances an incomplete argument in Stafford (1990). Our results extend the results due to Chen et al. (2012) and Qiu (2017) in the case of m=+∞ on the Liouville theorem for bounded V-harmonic maps from complete Riemannian manifolds with non-negative (∞,V)-Ricci curvature into regular geodesic balls of Riemannian manifolds with positive sectional curvature upper bound. Finally, we establish a connection between the Liouville property of V-harmonic maps and the recurrence property of ΔV-diffusion processes on manifolds. Our results are new even in the case V=∇f for f∈C2(M).