Does there exist a smooth harmonic map $f:\mathbb{R}^3 \to \mathbb{R}^3$ such that:
- $\det(df)$ is constant and nonzero.
- $f$ is not affine.
($f$ is harmonic if each of its three components is a harmonic function).
The case of maps $\mathbb{R}^2 \to \mathbb{R}^2$ has been settled here. (There is no such map). However, the proof there used techniques from complex analysis, which are not available in dimension $3$.
Contrary to the two-dimensional case, there exist such maps. For instance, take any non-affine harmonic map $u:\mathbb{R}^2 \to \mathbb{R}$ and define $f:\mathbb{R}^3 \to \mathbb{R}^3$ by $f(x,y,z) = ( x + u(y,z), y , z)$. Then $f$ is harmonic, non-affine and $\det df =1$.