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Let$N$be a compact simply connected smooth Riemannian manifold and, for$p$∈ {2,3,...},$W$^{1,$p$}($R$^{$p$+1},$N$) be the Sobolev space of measurable maps from$R$^{$p$+1}into$N$whose gradients are in$L$^{$p$}. The restriction of$u$to almost every$p$-dimensional sphere$S$in$R$^{$p$+1}is in$W$^{1,$p$}($S$,$N$) and defines an homotopy class in π_{$p$}($N$) (White 1988). Evaluating a fixed element$z$of Hom(π_{$p$}($N$),$R$) on this homotopy class thus gives a real number Φ_{$z$,$u$}($S$). The main result of the paper is that any$W$^{1,$p$}-weakly convergent limit$u$of a sequence of smooth maps in$C$^{∞}($R$^{$p$+1},$N$), Φ_{$z$,$u$}has a$rectifiable Poincaré dual$ $ {\left( {\Gamma ,{\overrightarrow{\Gamma }} ,\theta } \right)} $ . Here Γ is a a countable union of$C$^{1}curves in$R$^{$p$+1}with Hausdorff $ {\user1{\mathcal{H}}}^{1} $ -measurable orientation $ {\overrightarrow{\Gamma }} :\Gamma \to S^{p} $ and density function$θ$: Γ→$R$. The intersection number between $ {\left( {\Gamma ,{\overrightarrow{\Gamma }} ,\theta } \right)} $ and$S$evaluates Φ_{$z$,$u$}($S$), for almost every$p$-sphere$S$. Moreover, we exhibit a non-negative integer$n$_{$z$}, depending only on homotopy operation$z$, such that $ {\int_\Gamma {{\left| \theta \right|}^{{p \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {p {{\left( {p + n_{z} } \right)}}}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {{\left( {p + n_{z} } \right)}}}} d{\user1{\mathcal{H}}}^{1} < \infty } } $ even though the mass $ {\int_\Gamma {{\left| \theta \right|}d{\user1{\mathcal{H}}}^{1} } } $ may be infinite. We also provide cases of$N$,$p$and$z$for which this rational power$p$/($p$+$n$_{$z$}) is optimal. The construction of this Poincaré dual is based on 1-dimensional “bubbling” described by the notion of “scans” which was introduced in Hardt and Rivière (2003). We also describe how to generalize these results to$R$^{$m$}for any$m$⩾$p$+ 1, in which case the bubbling is described by an ($m$–$p$)-rectifiable set with orientation and density function determined by restrictions of the mappings to almost every oriented Euclidean$p$-sphere.

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