We study Maxwell's equation as a theory for smooth $k$-forms on globally hyperbolic spacetimes with timelike boundary as defined by Aké, Flores and Sanchez. In particular we start by investigating on these backgrounds the D'Alembert - de Rham wave operator $\Box_k$ and we highlight the boundary conditions which yield a Green's formula for $\Box_k$. Subsequently, we characterize the space of solutions of the associated initial and boundary value problem under the assumption that advanced and retarded Green operators do exist. This hypothesis is proven to be verified by a large class of boundary conditions using the method of boundary triples and under the additional assumption that the underlying spacetime is ultrastatic. Subsequently we focus on the Maxwell operator. First we construct the boundary conditions which entail a Green's formula for such operator and then we highlight two distinguished cases, dubbed $δ\mathrm{d}$-tangential and $δ\mathrm{d}$-normal boundary conditions. Associated to these we introduce two different notions of gauge equivalence and we prove that in both cases, every equivalence class admits a representative abiding to the Lorenz gauge. We use this property and the analysis of the operator $\Box_k$ to construct and to classify the space of gauge equivalence classes of solutions of the Maxwell's equations with the prescribed boundary conditions. As a last step and in the spirit of future applications in the framework of algebraic quantum field theory, we construct the associated unital $*$-algebras of observables proving in particular that, as in the case of the Maxwell operator on globally hyperbolic spacetimes with empty boundary, they possess a non-trivial center.
We consider the Dirac operator on globally hyperbolic manifolds with timelike boundary and show well-posedness of the Cauchy initial-boundary value problem coupled to MIT-boundary conditions. This is achieved by transforming the problem locally into a symmetric positive hyperbolic system, proving existence and uniqueness of weak solutions and then using local methods developed by Lax, Phillips and Rauch, Massey to show smoothness of the solutions. Our proof actually works for a slightly more general class of local boundary conditions.
Being motivated by open questions in gauge field theories, we consider non-standard de Rham cohomology groups for timelike compact and spacelike compact support systems. These cohomology groups are shown to be isomorphic respectively to the usual de Rham cohomology of a spacelike Cauchy surface and its counterpart with compact support. Furthermore, an analog of the usual Poincaré duality for de Rham cohomology is shown to hold for the case with non-standard supports as well. We apply these results to find optimal spaces of linear observables for analogs of arbitrary degree $k$ of both the vect…
We show that when a spacetime $\mathcal{M}(=M \cup \partial M)$ is globally hyperbolic with (possibly empty) smooth timelike boundary $\partial M$, a metrizable topology, the closed limit topology (CLT) introduced by F. Hausdorff himself in the 1950's in set theory, can be advantageously adopted on the Geroch-Kronheimer-Penrose causal completion of M, retaining essentially all the good properties of previous topologies in this ambient. In particular, we show that if the globally hyperbolic spacetime $M$ admits a conformal boundary, defined in such broad terms as to include all the standard exa…
We give an example of a spacetime with a continuous metric which is globally hyperbolic and exhibits causal bubbling. The metric moreover splits orthogonally into a timelike and a spacelike part. We discuss our example in the context of energy conditions and the recently introduced synthetic timelike curvature-dimension (TCD) condition. In particular we observe that the TCD-condition does not, by itself, prevent causal bubbling.
We consider the Cauchy problem for the wave equation on a non-globally hyperbolic manifold of the special form (Minkowski plane with a handle) containing closed timelike curves (time machines). We prove that the classical solution of the Cauchy problem exists and is unique if and only if the initial data satisfy to some set of additional conditions.
Globally hyperbolic spacetimes admitting infinitely many causal (and timelike) homotopy classes of curves joining two prescribed points, are exhibited and discussed.
We show the rigid singularity theorem, that is, a globally hyperbolic spacetime satisfying the strong energy condition and containing past trapped sets, either is timelike geodesically incomplete or splits isometrically as space $\times$ time. This result is related to Yau's Lorentzian splitting conjecture.
Let $(M,\mathsf{d},\mathfrak{m},\ll,\leq,τ)$ be a causally closed, $\mathscr{K}$-globally hyperbolic, regular measured Lorentzian geodesic space satisfying the weak timelike curvature-dimension condition $\smash{\mathrm{wTCD}_p^e(K,N)}$ in the sense of Cavalletti and Mondino. We prove the existence of geodesics of probability measures on $M$ which satisfy the entropic semiconvexity inequality defining $\smash{\mathrm{wTCD}_p^e(K,N)}$ and whose densities with respect to $\mathfrak{m}$ are additionally uniformly $L^\infty$ in time. This holds apart from any nonbranching assumption. We also discu…
Recent results on the maximization of the charged-particle action I in a globally hyperbolic spacetime are discussed and generalized. We focus on the maximization of I over a given causal homotopy class C of curves connecting two causally related events x_0 <= x_1. Action I is proved to admit a maximum on C, and also one in the adherence of each timelike homotopy class. Moreover, the maximum on C is timelike if C contains a timelike curve (and the degree of differentiability of all the elements is at least C^2). In particular, this last result yields a complete Avez-Seifert type solution to th…
We consider the non-interacting source-free Maxwell field, described both in terms of the vector potential and the field strength. Starting from the classical field theory on contractible globally hyperbolic spacetimes, we extend the classical field theory to general globally hyperbolic spacetimes in two ways to obtain a "universal" theory and a "reduced" theory. The quantum field theory in terms of the unital $*$-algebra of the smeared quantum field is then obtained by an application of a suitable quantisation functor. We show that the universal theories fail local covariance and dynamical lo…
We find a new homogeneous solution to the Einstein-Maxwell equations with a cosmological term. The spacetime manifold is $R \times S^3$. The spacetime metric admits a simply transitive isometry group $G = R \times SU(2)$ of isometries and is of Petrov type I. The spacetime is geodesically complete and globally hyperbolic. The electromagnetic field is non-null and non-inheriting: it is only invariant with respect to the $SU(2)$ subgroup and is time-dependent in a stationary reference frame.
We give a complete framework for the Gupta-Bleuler quantization of the free electromagnetic field on globally hyperbolic space-times. We describe one-particle structures that give rise to states satisfying the microlocal spectrum condition. The field algebras in the so-called Gupta-Bleuler representations satisfy the time-slice axiom, and the corresponding vacuum states satisfy the microlocal spectrum condition. We also give an explicit construction of ground states on ultrastatic space-times. Unlike previous constructions, our method does not require a spectral gap or the absence of zero mode…
The thesis investigates the locality axiom of general local covariance for Abelian gauge theories. Two models, Maxwell $k$-forms (higher analogues of the electromagnetic vector potential) and the $U(1)$ Yang-Mills model are analyzed over globally hyperbolic spacetimes. Our attention is mainly focused on the locality axiom of general local covariance, which states that a causal embedding between spacetimes should induce an inclusion at the level of observables. Both at the classical and at the quantum level, it turns out that the models we consider violate locality depending on certain global f…
We consider the wave operator on static, Lorentzian manifolds with timelike boundary and we discuss the existence of advanced and retarded fundamental solutions in terms of boundary conditions. By means of spectral calculus we prove that answering this question is equivalent to studying the self-adjoint extensions of an associated elliptic operator on a Riemannian manifold with boundary $(M,g)$. The latter is diffeomorphic to any, constant time hypersurface of the underlying background. In turn, assuming that $(M,g)$ is of bounded geometry, this problem can be tackled within the framework of b…
We develop a quantization scheme for Maxwell's equations without source on an arbitrary four dimensional globally hyperbolic spacetime. The field strength tensor is the key dynamical object and it is not assumed a priori that it descends from a vector potential. It is shown that, in general, the associated field algebra can contain a non trivial centre and, on account of this, such a theory cannot be described within the framework of general local covariance unless further restrictive assumptions on the topology of the spacetime are made.
We prove global existence backwards from the scattering data posed at infinity for the Maxwell Klein Gordon equations in Lorenz gauge satisfying the weak null condition. The asymptotics of the solutions to the Maxwell Klein Gordon equations in Lorenz gauge were shown to be wave like at null infinity and homogeneous towards timelike infinity in arXiv:1803.11086 and expressed in terms of radiation fields, and thus our scattering data will be given in the form of radiation fields in the backward problem. We give a refinement of the asymptotics results in arXiv:1803.11086, and then making use of t…
This paper investigates wave-equations on spacetimes with a metric which is locally analytic in the time. We use recent results in the theory of the non-characteristic Cauchy problem to show that a solution to a wave-equation vanishing in an open set vanishes in the ``envelope'' of this set, which may be considerably larger and in the case of timelike tubes may even coincide with the spacetime itself. We apply this result to the real scalar field on a globally hyperbolic spacetime and show that the field algebra of an open set and its envelope coincide. As an example there holds an analog of B…
The D-CTC condition is a condition originally proposed by David Deutsch as a condition on states of a quantum communication network that contains "backward time-steps" in some of its branches. It has been argued that this is an analogue for quantum processes in the presence of closed timelike curves (CTCs). The unusual properties of states of quantum communication networks that fulfill the D-CTC condition have been discussed extensively in recent literature. In this work, the D-CTC condition is investigated in the framework of quantum field theory in the local, operator-algebraic approach due …
The time local and global well-posedness for the Maxwell-Schr{ö}dinger equations is considered in Sobolev spaces in three spatial dimensions. The Strichartz estimates of Koch and Tzvetkov type are used for obtaining the solutions in the Sobolev spaces of low regularities. One of the main results is that the solutions exist time globally for large data.
Pre-metric electrodynamics is a covariant framework for electromagnetism with a general constitutive law. Its lightcone structure can be more complicated than that of Maxwell theory as is shown by the phenomenon of birefringence. We study the energy density of quantized pre-metric electrodynamics theories with linear constitutive laws admitting a single hyperbolicity double-cone and show that averages of the energy density along the worldlines of suitable observers obey a Quantum Energy Inequality (QEI) in states that satisfy a microlocal spectrum condition. The worldlines must meet two condit…
We discuss the limit of vanishing $G$ (Newton's constant of universal gravitation) of the maximal analytically extended Kerr--Newman electrovacuum spacetimes {represented in Boyer--Lindquist coordinates}. We investigate the topologically nontrivial spacetime emerging in this limit and show that it consists of two copies of flat Minkowski spacetime glued at a timelike solid cylinder. As $G\to 0$, the electromagnetic fields of the Kerr-Newman spacetimes converge to nontrivial solutions of Maxwell's equations on this background spacetime. We show how to obtain these fields by solving Maxwell's eq…
