CR-harmonic maps

Abstract

We develop the notion of renormalized energy in CR geometry, for maps from a strictly pseudoconvex pseudohermitian manifold to a Riemannian manifold. This energy is a CR invariant functional, whose critical points, which we call CR-harmonic maps, satisfy a CR covariant subelliptic partial differential equation. The corresponding operator coincides on functions with the CR Paneitz operator.