Using a lattice equation of state combined with the D-dimensional Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation and the Friedmann equations, we investigate the possibility of the formation of compact objects as well as the time evolution of the scale factor and the density profile of a self-gravitating material cluster. The numerical results show that in a $2+1$ dimensional spacetime, the mass is independent of the central pressure. Hence, the formation of only compact objects with a finite constant mass similar to the white dwarf is possible. However, in a $3+1$ dimensional spacetime, self-gravity leads to the formation of compact objects with a large gap of mass and the corresponding phase diagram has the same structure as the one for Neutron Star. The results also show that beyond certain critical central pressure, the star is unstable against gravitational collapse, and it may end in a black hole. Analysis of spacetimes of higher dimensions shows that gravity has the stronger effect in $3+1$ dimensions. Numerical solutions of the Friedmann equations show that the effect of the curvature of spacetime increases with increasing temperature, but decreases with increasing dimensionality beyond $D=3$.
We develop a general formalism to determine the statistical equilibrium states of self-gravitating systems in general relativity and complete previous works on the subject. Our results are valid for an arbitrary form of entropy but, for illustration, we explicitly consider the Fermi-Dirac entropy for fermions. The maximization of entropy at fixed mass-energy and particle number determines the distribution function of the system and its equation of state. It also implies the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations of hydrostatic equilibrium and the Tolman-Klein relations. Our paper provides all th…
We review the history of the self-gravitating Fermi gas in Newtonian gravity and general relativity. We mention applications to white dwarfs, neutron stars and dark matter halos. We describe the nature of instabilities and phase transitions in the self-gravitating Fermi gas as energy (microcanonical ensemble) or temperature (canonical ensemble) is reduced. When $N<N_{\rm OV}$, where $N_{\rm OV}$ is the Oppenheimer-Volkoff critical particle number, the self-gravitating Fermi gas experiences a gravothermal catastrophe at $E_c$ stopped by quantum mechanics (Pauli's exclusion principle). The equil…
By a spherical gravitating condenser we mean two concentric charged shells made of perfect fluids restricted by the condition that the electric field is nonvanishing only between the shells. Flat space is assumed inside the inner shell. By using Israel's formalism we first analyze the general system of N shells and then concentrate on the two-shell condensers. Energy conditions are taken into account; physically interesting cases are summarized in two tables, but also more exotic situations in which, for example, the inner shell may occur below the inner horizon of the corresponding Reissner-N…
We determine the caloric curves of classical self-gravitating systems at statistical equilibrium in general relativity. In the classical limit, the caloric curves of a self-gravitating gas depend on a unique parameter $ν=GNm/Rc^2$, called the compactness parameter, where $N$ is the particle number and $R$ the system's size. Typically, the caloric curves have the form of a double spiral. The "cold spiral", corresponding to weakly relativistic configurations, is a generalization of the caloric curve of nonrelativistic classical self-gravitating systems. The "hot spiral'", corresponding to strong…
The Thomas-Fermi model is extended at finite temperature, to describe the gravitational phase transition occurring in massive fermionic systems in a general-relativistic framework. It is shown that, when a nondegenerate fermionic gas (for $N < N_{OV}$, where $N_{OV}$ is the Oppenheimer-Volkoff limit) is cooled down below a critical temperature, a condensed phase emerges and the gravitational collapse is prevented by quantum mechanics. If $N > N_{OV}$, by contrast, the system is destined to collapse towards a Black Hole because no equilibrium states exist.
We study the statistical mechanics of classical self-gravitating systems confined within a box of radius $R$ in general relativity. It has been found that the caloric curve $T_{\infty}(E)$ has the form of a double spiral whose shape depends on the compactness parameter $ν=GNm/Rc^2$. The double spiral shrinks as $ν$ increases and finally disappears when $ν_{\rm max}=0.1764$. Therefore, general relativistic effects render the system more unstable. On the other hand, the cold spiral and the hot spiral move away from each other as $ν$ decreases. Using a normalization $Λ=-ER/GN^2m^2$ and $η=GNm^2/R…
The motion with intersections of relativistic gravitating shells in the Schwarzschild gravitational field of a central body is considered. Formulas are derived for calculating parameters of the shells after intersection via their parameters before intersection. Such special cases as the Newtonian approximation, intersections of light shells, and intersections of a test shell with a gravitating shell are also considered. The ejection of one of the shells to infinity in the relativistic region is described. The equations of motion for the shells are analyzed numerically.
We investigate stationary, self-gravitating, magnetised disks (or tori) around black holes. The models are obtained by numerically solving the coupled system of the Einstein equations and the equations of ideal general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamics. The mathematical formulation and numerical aspects of our approach are similar to those reported in previous works modeling stationary self-gravitating perfect-fluid tori, but the inclusion of magnetic fields represents a new ingredient. Following previous studies of purely hydrodynamical configurations, we construct our models assuming Kepleri…
Vortons can be viewed as (flat space-) field theory analogs of black rings in general relativity. They are made from loops of vortices, being sustained against collapse by the centrifugal force. In this work we discuss such configurations in the global version of Witten's U(1)xU(1) theory. We first consider solutions in a flat spacetime background and show their non-uniqueness. The inclusion of gravity leads to new features. In particular, an ergoregion can occur. Also, similar to boson stars, we show that the vortons exist only in a limited frequency range. The coupling to gravity gives rise …
We discuss the occurrence of gravitational phase transitions and instabilities in a gas of self-gravitating fermions within the framework of general relativity. In the classical (nondegenerate) limit, the system undergoes a gravitational collapse at low energies $E<E_c$ and low temperatures $T<T_c$. This is called "gravothermal catastrophe" in the microcanonical ensemble and "isothermal collapse" in the canonical ensemble. When quantum mechanics is taken into account and when the particle number is below the Oppenheimer-Volkoff limit ($N<N_{\rm OV}$), complete gravitational collapse is prevent…
The problem of construction of a continuous (macroscopic) matter model for a given point-like (microscopic) matter distribution in general relativity is formulated. The existing approaches are briefly reviewed and a physical analogy with the similar problem in classical macroscopic electrodynamics is pointed out. The procedure by Szekeres in the linearized general relativity on Minkowski background to construct a tensor of gravitational quadruple polarization by applying Kaufman's method of molecular moments for derivation of the polarization tensor in macroscopic electrodynamics and to derive…
The Chaplygin gas has been proposed as a possible dark energy, dark matter candidate. As a working fluid in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe, it exhibits early behavior reminiscent of dark matter, but at later times is more akin to a cosmological constant. In any such universe, however, one can expect local perturbations to form. Here we obtain the general equations for a self-gravitating relativistic Chaplygin gas. We solve these equations and obtain the mass-radius relationship for such structures, showing that only in the phantom regime is the mass-radius relationship large enough to b…
We study the nature of phase transitions between gaseous and condensed states in the self-gravitating Fermi gas at nonzero temperature in general relativity. The condensed states can represent compact objects such as white dwarfs, neutron stars, or dark matter fermion balls. The caloric curves depend on two parameters: the system size $R$ and the particle number $N$. When $N<N_{\rm OV}$, where $N_{\rm OV}$ is the Oppenheimer-Volkoff limit, there exists an equilibrium state for any value of the temperature $T$ and of the energy $E$ as in the nonrelativistic case [P.H. Chavanis, Int. J. Mod. Phy…
We consider the dynamics of a self-gravitating spinor field and a self-gravitating rotating perfect fluid. It is shown that both these matter distributions can induce a vortex field described by the curl 4-vector of a tetrad: $ω^i = \frac12\eps^{iklm}e_{(a)k}e^{(a)}_{l;m}$, where $e^{(a)}_k$ are components of the tetrad. The energy-momentum tensor $T_{ik}(ω)$ of this field has been found and shown to violate the strong and weak energy conditions which leads to possible formation of geometries with nontrivial topology like wormholes. The corresponding exact solutions to the equations of general…
Solar system observations have traditionally allowed for very stringent tests of Einstein's theory of general relativity. We here revisit the possibility of using these observations to constrain gravitational parity violation as encapsulated in dynamical Chern-Simons gravity. Working in the small-coupling and post-Newtonian approximations, we calculate analytically the scalar field and the gravitomagnetic sector of the gravitational field in the interior and the exterior of an isolated, weakly-gravitating object with uniform rotation and a quadrupolar mass deformation. We find that the asympto…
The quasi-two-dimensional modeling of the small adiabatic perturbation on the background of the stationary configuration of the selfgravitating gas with the weak transverse nonhomogeneity approximation is presented. The space periodic character of the solution of this system is proofed.
We revisit the problem of the equations of motion of a system of $N$ self-interacting massive particles (without spins) in the first post-Minkowskian (1PM) approximation of general relativity. We write the equations of motion, gravitational field and associated conserved integrals of the motion in a form suitable for comparison with recently published post-Newtonian (PN) results at the 4PN order. We show that the Lagrangian associated with the equations of motion in harmonic coordinates is a generalized one, and compute all the terms linear in $G$ up to 5PN order. We discuss the Hamiltonian in…
In a recent paper, Herrera \cite{2} (L. Herrera: Phys. Rev. D97, 044010(2018)) have proposed a new definition of complexity for static self-gravitating fluid in General Relativity. In the present article, we implement this definition of complexity for static self-gravitating fluid to case of $f(R)$ gravity. Here, we found that in the frame of $f(R)$ gravity the definition of complexity proposed by Herrera, entirely based on the quantity known as complexity factor which appears in the orthogonal splitting of the curvature tensor. It has been observed that fluid spheres possessing homogenous ene…
We find a self-gravitating monopole and its black hole solution in Brans-Dicke theory. We mainly discuss the properties of these solutions in the Einstein frame and compare the solutions with those in general relativity.
The simplest variant of gauge gravitation theory in Riemann-Cartan spacetime leading to the solution of the problem of cosmological singularity and dark energy problem is investigated. It is shown that this theory by certain restrictions on indefinite parameters of gravitational Lagrangian in the case of usual gravitating systems leads to Einstein gravitational equations with effective cosmological constant.
We study how the changes of coordinates between the class of harmonic coordinates affect the analitycal solutions of Einstein's equations and we apply it to an analytical approach for stationary and axisymmetric solutions of Einstein equation used by the authors \cite{cmmr}, \cite{cugmmr} to solve the problem of a self-gravitating rigidly rotating perfect fluid compact source.
We study a system of self-gravitating massive fermions in the framework of the general-relativistic Thomas-Fermi model. We postulate the free energy functional and show that its extremization is equivalent to solving the Einstein's field equations. A self-gravitating fermion gas we then describe by a set of Thomas-Fermi type self-consistency equations.
We show that, when we study the coexistence of general relativity with thermodynamics, some physical properties that are usually thought of as holographic and lying in the domain of quantum gravity can actually be accessed even at the classical level. In particular, we demonstrate that the thermodynamics of gravitating systems in equilibrium is fully specified by variables defined on the system's boundary, namely, the boundary's geometry and extrinsic curvature. Hence, information is non-trivially incorporated in boundary variables because of the structure (the symmetries) of the classical gra…
We study the stability of three-dimensional numerical evolutions of the Einstein equations, comparing the standard ADM formulation to variations on a family of formulations that separate out the conformal and traceless parts of the system. We develop an implementation of the conformal-traceless (CT) approach that has improved stability properties in evolving weak and strong gravitational fields, and for both vacuum and spacetimes with active coupling to matter sources. Cases studied include weak and strong gravitational wave packets, black holes, boson stars and neutron stars. We show under wh…
We prove the local existence of solutions to the Einstein-Elastic equations that represent self-gravitating, relativistic elastic bodies with compact support.
In self-gravitating $N$-body systems, small perturbations introduced at the start, or infinitesimal errors that are produced by the numerical integrator or are due to limited precision in the computer, grow exponentially with time. For Newton's gravity, we confirm earlier results that for relatively homogeneous systems, this rate of growth per crossing time increases with $N$ up to $N \sim 30$, but that for larger systems, the growth rate has a weaker scaling with $N$. For concentrated systems, however, the rate of exponential growth continues to scale with $N$. In relativistic self-gravitatin…
This paper deals with the spherically symmetric self-gravitating star which is considered to be expansion free dissipative perfect fluids distribution. Some recent research reveals that expansion free dynamical star must be accelerating and dissipating. We adopted some conjectures to obtain the analytical solution for the dynamical model of such stars. Firstly, it has shown that density of dynamical star is homogeneous and \Lamada-dominated under quasi-static diffusion approximation. Secondly, the self-similar solution is also discussed to describe the dynamical model.
This is a short review of a series of papers which, in collaboration with Yue Ma, establish several novel existence results for systems of coupled wave-Klein-Gordon equation. Our method, the Hyperbolic Hyperboloidal Method, has allowed us to address the global evolution problem for the Einstein equations of general relativity and investigate the global geometry of matter spacetimes that are initially close to Minkowski spacetime.
Using the the concept of cracking we explore the influence of density fluctuations and local anisotropy have on the stability of local and non-local anisotropic matter configurations in general relativity. This concept, conceived to describe the behaviour of a fluid distribution just after its departure from equilibrium, provides an alternative approach to consider the stability of selfgravitating compact objects. We show that potentially unstable regions within a configuration can be identify as a function of the difference of propagations of sound along tangential and radial directions. In f…
Mathematical modeling of gravitating configurations of physical fields is one of the priority directions of the modern theory of gravity. Most of the exact solutions constructed within the framework of the general relativity are static or stationary configurations. This is due to the objective complexity of solving the Einstein equations under the assumption of nonstationarity. We present an approach to constructing nonstationary configurations of a spherically symmetric nonlinear real scalar field and the electromagnetic field, which areassumed both to be minimally coupled to gravity. It is b…
We show that for any perfect fluid in a static spacetime, if the Einstein constraint equation is satisfied and the temperature of the fluid obeys Tolman's law, then the other components of Einstein's equation are implied by the assumption that the total entropy of the fluid achieves an extremum for fixed total particle number and for all variations of metric with certain boundary conditions. Conversely, one can show that the extrema of the total entropy of the fluid are implied by Einstein's equation. Compared to previous works on this issue, we do not require spherical symmetry for the spacet…
We propose the almost-geodesic motion of self-gravitating test bodies as a possible selection rule among metric theories of gravity. Starting from a heuristic statement, the "gravitational weak equivalence principle", we build a formal, operative test able to probe the validity of the principle for any metric theory of gravity, in an arbitrary number of spacetime dimensions. We show that, if the theory admits a well-posed variational formulation, this test singles out only the purely metric theories of gravity. This conclusion reproduces known results in the cases of general relativity (also w…
Recent work has shown that scalar fields around black holes can form long-lived, quasistationary configurations surviving for cosmological timescales. With this requirement, scalar fields cannot be discarded as viable candidates for dark matter halo models in galaxies around central supermassive black holes (SMBH). One hypothesis for the formation of most SMBHs at high redshift is the gravitational collapse of supermassive stars (SMS) with masses of $\sim10^5 \rm {M_{\odot}}$. Therefore, a constraint for the existence of quasi-bound states of scalar fields is their survival to such dynamic eve…
Analytic methods show stability of the stationary accretion of test fluids but they are inconclusive in the case of self-gravitating stationary flows. We investigate numerically stability of those stationary flows onto compact objects that are transonic and rich in gas. In all studied examples solutions appear stable. Numerical investigation suggests also that the analogy between sonic and event horizons holds for small perturbations of compact support but fails in the case of finite perturbations.
An effective action is obtained for the area and mass aspect of a thin shell of radiating self-gravitating matter. On following a mini-superspace approach, the geometry of the embedding space-time is not dynamical but fixed to be either Minkowski or Schwarzschild inside the shell and Vaidya in the external space filled with radiation. The Euler-Lagrange equations of motion are discussed and shown to entail the expected invariance of the effective Lagrangian under time-reparametrization. They are equivalent to the usual junction equations and suggest a macroscopic quasi-static thermodynamic des…
We develop the large $D$ limit of general relativity for spherically symmetric scalar fields in both asymptotically flat and asymptotically anti-de Sitter spaces. The leading order equations in the $1/D$ expansion can be solved analytically, providing a large $D$ description of oscillating soliton stars. When the amplitude reaches a critical threshold, certain divergences occur which we interpret as signal of horizon formation. We estimate the size of the resulting black hole and obtain, with respect to that definition, a Choptuik scaling exponent for our family of solutions.
Recent perturbative studies have shown the existence of long-lived, quasi-stationary configurations of scalar fields around black holes. In particular, such configurations have been found to survive for cosmological timescales, which is a requirement for viable dark matter halo models in galaxies based on such type of structures. In this paper we perform a series of numerical relativity simulations of dynamical non-rotating black holes surrounded by self-gravitating scalar fields. We solve numerically the coupled system of equations formed by the Einstein and the Klein-Gordon equations under t…
The theory presented in this monograph establishes the first mathematically rigorous result on the global nonlinear stability of self-gravitating matter under small perturbations of an asymptotically flat, spacelike hypersurface of Minkowski spacetime. It allows one to exclude the existence of dynamically unstable, self-gravitating massive fields and, therefore, solves a long-standing open problem in General Relativity. By a significant extension of the Hyperboloidal Foliation Method they introduced in 2014, the authors establish global-in-time existence for the Einstein equations expressed as…
We summarize the general formalism describing surface flows in three-dimensional space in a form which is suitable for various astrophysical applications. We then apply the formalism to the analysis of non-radial perturbations of self-gravitating spherical fluid shells. Spherically symmetric gravitating shells (or bubbles) have been used in numerous model problems especially in general relativity and cosmology. A radially oscillating shell was recently suggested as a model for a variable cosmic object. Within Newtonian gravity we show that self-gravitating static fluid shells are unstable with…
This paper summarises a number of new, potentially significant, results, obtained recently by the author and his collaborators, which impact on various issues related to the gravitational N-body problem, both Newtonianly and in the context of general relativity. Topics addressed include: (1) direct N-body simulations and their interpretation, with reference to the observed exponential instability towards small changes in initial conditions and the phenomenon of ``nonviolent relaxation;'' (2) the Hamiltonian structure of the collisionless Boltzmann equation of general relativity, i.e., the Vlas…
In this paper, we discuss general relativistic, self-gravitating and uniformly rotating perfect fluid bodies with a toroidal topology (without central object). For the equations of state describing the fluid matter we consider polytropic as well as completely degenerate, perfect Fermi gas models. We find that the corresponding configurations possess similar properties to the homogeneous relativistic Dyson rings. On the one hand, there exists no limit to the mass for a given maximal mass-density inside the body. On the other hand, each model permits a quasistationary transition to the extreme K…
We consider a self-gravitating system consisting of perfect fluid with spherical symmetry. Using the general expression of entropy density, we extremize the total entropy $S$ under the constraint that the total number of particles is fixed. We show that extrema of $S$ coincides precisely with the relativistic Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff (TOV) equation of hydrostatic equilibrium. Furthermore, we apply the maximum entropy principle to a charged perfect fluid and derive the generalized TOV equation. Our work provides a strong evidence for the fundamental relationship between general relativity and…
We develop the cluster expansion and the Mayer expansion for the self-gravitating thermal gas and prove the existence and stability of the thermodynamic limit N, V to infty with N/V^{1/3} fixed. The essential (dimensionless) variable is here eta = [G m^2 N]/[V^{1/3} T] (which is kept fixed in the thermodynamic limit). We succeed in this way to obtain the expansion of the grand canonical partition function in powers of the fugacity. The corresponding cluster coefficients behave in the thermodynamic limit as [eta/N]^{j-1} c_j where c_j are pure numbers. They are expressed as integrals associated…
In this paper we will study for the first time how the wave-packet of a self-gravitating meso-scopic system spreads in theories beyond Einstein's general relativity. In particular, we will consider a ghost-free infinite derivative gravity, which resolves the $1/r$ singularity in the potential - such that the gradient of the potential vanishes within the scale of non-locality. We will show that a quantum wave-packet spreads faster for a ghost-free and singularity-free gravity as compared to the Newtonian case, therefore providing us a unique scenario for testing classical and quantum properties…
The full set of equations governing the structure and the evolution of self--gravitating spherically symmetric dissipative fluids with anisotropic stresses, is written down in terms of five scalar quantities obtained from the orthogonal splitting of the Riemann tensor, in the context of general relativity. It is shown that these scalars are directly related to fundamental properties of the fluid distribution, such as: energy density, energy density inhomogeneity, local anisotropy of pressure, dissipative flux and the active gravitational mass. It is also shown that in the static case, all poss…
Shape Dynamics is a 3D conformally invariant theory of gravity which possesses a large set of solutions in common with General Relativity. When looked closely, these solutions are found to behave in surprising ways, so in order to probe the fitness of Shape Dynamics as a viable alternative to General Relativity one must find and understand increasingly more complex, less symmetrical exact solutions, on which to base perturbative studies and numerical analyses in order to compare them with data. Spherically symmetric exact solutions have been studied, but only in a static vacuum setup. In this …
We use the Bianchi-I spacetime to study the local dynamics of a magnetized self-gravitating Fermi gas. The set of Einstein-Maxwell field equations for this gas becomes a dynamical system in a 4-dimensional phase space. We consider a qualitative study and examine numeric solutions for the degenerate zero temperature case. All dynamic quantities exhibit similar qualitative behavior in the 3-dimensional sections of the phase space, with all trajectories reaching a stable attractor whenever the initial expansion scalar H_{0} is negative. If H_{0} is positive, and depending on initial conditions, t…
The self-gravitating gas in thermal equilibrium is studied using a Newtonian potential regularized at short distances. This short distance cutoff permits us to obtain a complete description of the gas including its collapsed phase. We give a field theory description of the N-body regularized self-gravitating gas in the canonical ensemble.The corresponding functional integral is dominated in the N -> infty limit by saddle points which provide a mean field description. The well-known dilute solutions (isothermal spheres) are recovered. We find new solutions which are regular in the regularized t…
The self-gravitating gas in the presence of a positive cosmological constant Lambda is studied in thermal equilibrium by Monte Carlo simulations and by the mean field approach. We find excellent agreement between both approaches already for N = 1000 particles on a volume V [The mean field is exact in the infinite N limit]. The domain of stability of the gas is found to increase when the cosmological constant increases. The particle density is shown to be an increasing (decreasing) function of the distance when the dark energy dominates over self-gravity (and vice-versa).We confirm the validity…
In this paper we study the kinetic theory of many-particle astrophysical systems imposing axial symmetry and extending our previous analysis in Phys. Rev. D 83, 123007 (2011). Starting from a Newtonian model describing a collisionless self-gravitating gas, we develop a framework to include systematically the first general relativistic corrections to the matter distribution and gravitational potentials for general stationary systems. Then, we use our method to obtain particular solutions for the case of the Morgan & Morgan disks. The models obtained are fully analytical and correspond to the po…
Static spherically-symmetric matter distributions whose energy-momentum tensor is characterized by a non-negative trace are studied analytically within the framework of general relativity. We prove that such field configurations are necessarily highly relativistic objects. In particular, for matter fields with $T\geqα\cdotρ\geq0$ (here $T$ and $ρ$ are respectively the trace of the energy-momentum tensor and the energy density of the fields, and $α$ is a non-negative constant), we obtain the lower bound $\text{max}_r\{2m(r)/r\}>(2+2α)/(3+2α)$ on the compactness (mass-to-radius ratio) of regular…
In this paper we study the kinetic theory of many-particle astrophysical systems and we present a consistent version of the collisionless Boltzmann equation in the 1PN approximation. We argue that the equation presented by Rezania and Sobouti in A&A 354 1110 (2000) is not the correct expression to describe the evolution of a collisionless self-gravitating gas. One of the reasons that account for the previous statement is that the energy of a free-falling test particle, obeying the 1PN equations of motion for static gravitational fields, is not a static solution of the mentioned equation. The s…
We show that the self-gravitating gas at thermal equilibrium has an infinite volume limit in the three ensembles (GCE, CE, MCE) when (N, V) -> infty, keeping N/V^{1/3} fixed, that is, with eta = G m^2 N/[ V^{1/3} T] fixed. We develop MonteCarlo simulations, analytic mean field methods (MF) and low density expansions. We compute the equation of state and find it to be locally p(r) = T rho_V(r), that is a local ideal gas equation of state. The system is in a gaseous phase for eta < eta_T = 1.51024...and collapses into a very dense object for eta > eta_T in the CE with the pressure becoming large…
We propose a new numerical technique for following the evolution of a self-gravitating collisionless system in general relativity. Matter is modeled as a scalar field obeying the coupled Klein-Gordon and Einstein equations. A phase space distribution function, constructed using covariant coherent states, obeys the relativistic Vlasov equation provided the de Broglie wavelength for the field is very much smaller than the scales of interest. We illustrate the method by solving for the evolution of a system of particles in a static, plane-symmetric, background spacetime.
