Finite-time degeneration for Teichmüller harmonic map flow

Craig Robertson, University of Oxford. Part of the analysis and applications seminar series.

Teichmüller harmonic map flow is a geometric flow designed to evolve combinations of maps and metrics on a surface into minimal surfaces in a Riemannian manifold. I will introduce the flow and describe known existence results, and discuss recent joint work with M. Rupflin that demonstrates how singularities can develop in the metric component in finite time.