Harmonicity of unit vector fields with respect to Riemannian g-natural metrics

Let (M,g) be a compact Riemannian manifold and T₁M its unit tangent sphere bundle. Unit vector fields defining harmonic maps from (M,g) to , being the Sasaki metric on T₁M, have been extensively studied. The Sasaki metric, and other well known Riemannian metrics on T₁M, are particular examples of g-natural metrics. We equip T₁M with an arbitrary Riemannian g-natural metric , and investigate the harmonicity of a unit vector field V of M, thought as a map from (M,g) to . We then apply this study to characterize unit Killing vector fields and to investigate harmonicity properties of the Reeb vector field of a contact metric manifold.