Analysis and topology of homogeneous-space valued maps.
by
Dave Auckly
Kansas State University
Coauthors: L. Kapitanski, M. Speight

Skyrme introduced a functional for maps from R^3 to S^3. Faddeev considered a similar functional for maps taking values in S^2. It is possible to generalize both functionals to a functional defined on maps from a closed 3-manifold to a homogeneous space. In this talk, we will compare and contrast this set-up with the setting of the Donaldson invariants of 4-manifolds and describe analytic results for the Faddeev model.

Date received: March 4, 2005