arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to P. Baird.
We describe the relationship between complex-valued harmonic morphisms from Minkowski 4-space} and the shear-free ray congruences of mathematical physics. Then we show how a horizontally conformal submersion on a domain of Euclidean 3-space gives the boundary values at infinity of a complex-valued harmonic morphism on hyperbolic 4-space.
We construct large families of harmonic morphisms which are holomorphic with respect to Hermitian structures by finding heierarchies of Weierstrass-type representations. This enables us to find new examples of complex-valued harmonic morphisms from Euclidean spaces and spheres.
Equivalences between conformal foliations on Euclidean $3$-space, Hermitian structures on Euclidean $4$-space, shear-free ray congruences on Minkowski $4$-space, and holomorphic foliations on complex $4$-space are explained geometrically and twistorially; these are used to show that 1) any real-analytic complex-valued harmonic morphism without critical points defined on an open subset of Minkowski space is conformally equivalent to the direction vector field of a shear-free ray congruence, 2) the boundary values at infinity of a complex-valued harmonic morphism on hyperbolic $4$-space define a real-analytic conformal foliation by curves of an open subset of Euclidean $3$-space and all such foliations arise this way. This gives an explicit method of finding such foliations; some examples are given.
We construct new complex-valued harmonic morphisms from Euclidean spaces from functions which are holomorphic with respect to Hermitian structures. In particular, we give the first global examples of complex-valued harmonic morphisms from ${\bf R}^n$ for each $n>4$ which do not arise from a Kähler structure; it is known that such examples do not exist for $n \leq 4$.