Regularity for the approximated harmonic map equation and application to the heat flow for harmonic maps

Let be open and a smooth, compact Riemannian manifold without boundary. We consider the approximated harmonic map equation for maps , where . For , we prove H?lder continuity for weak solution s which satisfy a certain smallness condition. For , we derive an energy estimate which allows to prove partial regularity for stationary solutions of the heat flow for harmonic maps in dimension . Received: 7 May 2001; / in final form: 22 February 2002 Published online: 2 December 2002