Harmonic functions on R-covered foliations and group actions on the circle

Abstract

Let (M, F) be a compact codimension-one foliated manifold whose leaves are equipped with Riemannian metrics, and consider continuous functions on M that are harmonic along the leaves of F . If every such function is constant on leaves we say that (M, F) has the Liouville property. Our main result is that codimension-one foliated bundles over compact negatively curved manifolds satisfy the Liouville property. Related results for R-covered foliations, as well as for discrete group actions and discrete harmonic functions, are also established.