Regularity of minimizing $p$-harmonic maps into spheres and sharp Kato inequality

Abstract

We study regularity of minimizing $p$-harmonic maps $u \colon B^3 \to \mathbb{S}^3$ for $p$ in the interval $[2,3]$. For a long time, regularity was known only for $p = 3$ (essentially due to Morrey) and $p = 2$ (Schoen-Uhlenbeck), but recently Gastel extended the latter result to $p \in [2,2+\frac{2}{15}]$ using a version of Kato inequality. Here, we establish regularity for a small interval $p\in [2.961,3]$ by combining Morrey's methods with Hardt and Lin's Extension Theorem. We also improve on the other result by obtaining regularity for $p \in [2,p_0]$ with $p_0 = \frac{3+\sqrt{3}}{2} \approx 2.366$. In relation to this, we address a question posed by Gastel and prove a sharp Kato inequality for $p$-harmonic maps in two-dimensional domains, which is of independent interest.