It is shown that the space of null geodesics of a star-shaped causally simple subset of Minkowski space is contactomorphic to the canonical contact structure in the spherical cotangent bundle of $\mathbb{R}^n$. In the $3$-dimensional case we prove a similar result for a large class of causally simple contractible subsets of an arbitrary globally hyperbolic spacetime applying methods from the theory of contact-convex surfaces. Moreover we prove that under certain assumptions the space of null geodesics of a causally simple spacetime embeds with smooth boundary into the space of null geodesics of a globally hyperbolic spacetime. The characteristic foliation of this boundary provides an invariant of the conformal class of the causally simple spacetime.
It is shown that the space of null geodesics of a causally simple Lorentzian manifold is Hausdorff if it admits an open conformal embedding into a globally hyperbolic spacetime. This provides an obstruction to conformal embeddings of causally simple spacetimes into globally hyperbolic ones irrespective of curvature conditions. Examples of causally simple spacetimes are given not conformally embeddable into globally hyperbolic ones.
In this paper, We prove a conjecture which states that if M is a nakedly singular future boundary or nakedly singular past boundary spacetime, then the space of null geodesics, N, is non-Hausdorff. Also, we show that every two-dimensional strongly causal spacetime M is causally simple if and only if it is null pseudoconvex. As a result, it implies the converse of the conjecture for two-dimension but there are examples that refute it for more dimensions.
We clarify the relationship between the null geodesic completeness of an Einstein Lorentz manifold and its conformal Kobayashi pseudodistance. We show that an Einstein manifold has at least one incomplete null geodesic if its pseudodistancfe is nontrivial. If its pseudodistance is nondegenerate, all of its null geodesics must be incomplete. Thus an Einstein manifold (M,g) has no complete null geodesic if there is a "physical metric" in the conformal class of g satisfying the null convergence and null generic conditions.
The authors study a generalized notion of null geodesic defined by the Legendrian dynamics of a regular conical subbundle of the tangent bundle on a manifold. A natural extension of the Weyl tensor is shown to exist, and to depend only on this conical subbundle. Given a suitable defining function of the conical bundle, the Raychaudhuri--Sachs equations of general relativity continue to hold, and give rise to the same phenomenon of covergence of null geodesics in regions of positive energy that underlies the theory of gravitation.
We develop a global twistor correspondence for pseudo-Riemannian conformal structures of signature (++--) with self-dual Weyl curvature. Near the conformal class of the standard indefinite product metric on S^2 x S^2, there is an infinite-dimensional moduli space of such conformal structures, and each of these has the surprising global property that its null geodesics are all periodic. Each such conformal structure arises from a family of holomorphic disks in CP_3 with boundary on some totally real embedding of RP^3 into CP_3. An interesting sub-class of these conformal structures are represen…
The Kastor-Traschen metric is a time-dependent solution of the Einstein-Maxwell equations with positive cosmological constant $Λ$ which can be used to describe an arbitrary number of charged dynamical black holes. In this paper, we consider the null geodesic structure of this solution, in particular, focusing on the projection to the space of orbits of the timelike conformal retraction. It is found that these projected light rays arise as integral curves of a system of third order ordinary differential equations. This system is not uniquely defined, however, and we use the inherent freedom to …
In the complex-Riemannian framework we show that a conformal manifold containing a compact, simply-connected, null-geodesic is conformally flat. In dimension 3 we use the LeBrun correspondence, that views a conformal 3-manifold as the conformal infinity of a selfdual four-manifolds. We also find a relation between the conformal invariants of the conformal infinity and its ambient.
Chruściel, Isenberg, and Pollack constructed a class of vacuum cosmological spacetimes that do not admit Cauchy surfaces with constant mean curvature. We prove that, for sufficiently large values of the gluing parameter, these examples are both future and past null geodesically incomplete. The authors are honored to dedicate this paper to Robert Bartnik on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
We describe the geometry of geodesics on a Lorentz ellipsoid: give explicit formulas for the first integrals (pseudo-confocal coordinates), curvature, geodesically equivalent Riemannian metric, the invariant area-forms on the time- and space-like geodesics and invariant 1-form on the space of null geodesics. We prove a Poncelet-type theorem for null geodesics on the ellipsoid: if such a geodesic close up after several oscillations in the "pseudo-Riemannian belt", so do all other null geodesics on this ellipsoid.
The space of null geodesics of a spacetime carries a canonical contact structure which has proved to be key in the discussion of causality in spacetimes. However, not much progress has been made on its nature and not many explicit calculations for specific spacetimes can be found over the literature. We compute the spaces of null geodesics and their canonical contact structures for the manifold $\mathbb{S}^2\times\mathbb{S}^1$ equipped with the family of metrics $\{g_c = g_\circ-\frac{1}{c^2}dt^2 \}_{c\in\mathbb{N}^+}$. We obtain that these are the lens spaces $L(2c,1)$ and that the contact st…
In this work we simulate null geodesics for the Bonnor massive dipole metric by implementing a symbolic-numerical algorithm in Sage and Python. This program is also capable of visualizing in 3D, in principle, the geodesics for any given metric. Geodesics are launched from a common point, collectively forming a cone of light beams, simulating a solid-angle section of a point source in front of a massive object with a magnetic field. Parallel light beams also were considered, and their bending due to the curvature of the space-time was simulated.
The null curvature condition (NCC) is the requirement that the Ricci curvature of a Lorentzian manifold be nonnegative along null directions, which ensures the focusing of null geodesic congruences. In this note, we show that the NCC together with the causal structure significantly constrain the metric. In particular, we prove that any conformal rescaling of a vacuum spacetime introduces either geodesic incompleteness or negative null curvature, provided the conformal factor is non-constant on at least one complete null geodesic. In the context of bulk reconstruction in AdS/CFT, our results co…
An important, if relatively less well known aspect of the singularity theorems in Lorentzian Geometry is to understand how their conclusions fare upon weakening or suppression of one or more of their hypotheses. Then, theorems with modified concusions may arise, showing that those conclusions will fail only in special cases, at least some of which may be described. These are the so-called rigidity theorems, and have many important examples in the especialized literature. In this paper, we prove rigidity results for generalized plane waves and certain globally hyperbolic spacetimes in the prese…
We study the totally null surfaces of the neutral Kaehler metric on certain 4-manifolds. The tangent spaces of totally null surfaces are either self-dual ($α$-planes) or anti-self-dual ($β$-planes) and so we consider $α$-surfaces and $β$-surfaces. The metric of the examples we study, which include the spaces of oriented geodesics of 3-manifolds of constant curvature, are anti-self-dual, and so it is well-known that the $α$-planes are integrable and $α$-surfaces exist. These are holomorphic Lagrangian surfaces, which for the geodesic spaces correspond to totally umbilic foliations of the underl…
