Harmonic maps of trivalent trees

This thesis is a study of harmonic maps of trivalent trees into Euclidean space. The existence of such maps is established, and uniqueness is shown to hold up to a certain isotopy condition. Moreover, within its particular isotopy class, each harmonic map is shown to be a local minimum for the energy functional. A harmonic map of a trivalent tree is determined by its associated nodes. Collectively, these nodes are a function of the lengths of the parameter spaces of the paths which comprise the map. It is shown that this node function can be continuously extended to certain parts of the boundary of its domain; these parts of the boundary are closely related to the geometry of the trivalent tree which serves as the domain of the given harmonic map.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Natural Sciences

Grantor

Rice University

Year dc:date.issued

1991

Author dc:creator

• Stockton, George F.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Wolf, Michael

• Mathematics

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1911/13512

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.rice.edu:1911/13512