We prove that when assuming suitable non-degeneracy conditions equivariant harmonic maps into symmetric spaces of non-compact type depend in a real analytic fashion on the representation they are associated to. The main tool in the proof is the construction of a family of deformation maps which are used to transform equivariant harmonic maps into maps mapping into a fixed target space so that a real analytic version of the results in [EL81] can be applied. Statement of the resultsWe first collect some preliminary definitions and results needed to give a statement of the main theorem. Harmonic mapsIf (M, g) and (N, h) are Riemannian manifolds with M compact then a C 1 map f : (M, g) → (N, h) is called harmonic if it is a critical point of the

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We consider harmonic maps into symmetric spaces of non-compact type that are equivariant for representations that induce a free and proper action on the symmetric space. We show that under suitable non-degeneracy conditions such equivariant harmonic maps depend in a real analytic fashion on the representation they are associated to. The main tool in the proof is the construction of a family of deformation maps which are used to transform equivariant harmonic maps into maps mapping into a fixed target space so that a real analytic version of the results in [4] can be applied.

We consider the harmonic heat flow for maps from a compact Riemannian manifold into a Riemannian manifold that is complete and of non-positive curvature. We prove that if the harmonic heat flow converges to a limiting harmonic map that is a non-degenerate critical point of the energy functional, then the rate of convergence is exponential (in the $$L^2$$ L 2 norm).

We consider the harmonic heat flow for maps from a compact Riemannian manifold into a Riemannian manifold that is complete and of non-positive curvature. We prove that if the harmonic heat flow converges to a limiting harmonic map that is a non-degenerate critical point of the energy functional, then the rate of convergence is exponential (in the L 2 norm).