We consider an asymptotically flat Lorentzian manifold of dimension (1,3). An inequality is derived which bounds the Riemannian curvature tensor in terms of the ADM energy in the general case with second fundamental form. The inequality quantifies in which sense the Lorentzian manifold becomes flat in the limit when the ADM energy tends to zero.
We call the Lie algebra of a Lie group with a left invariant pseudo-Riemannian flat metric pseudo-Riemannian flat Lie algebra. We give a new proof of a classical result of Milnor on Riemannian flat Lie algebras. We reduce the study of Lorentzian flat Lie algebras to those with trivial center or those with degenerate center. We show that the double extension process can be used to construct all Lorentzian flat Lie algebras with degenerate center generalizing a result of Aubert-Medina on Lorentzian flat nilpotent Lie algebras. Finally, we give the list of Lorentzian flat Lie algebras with degene…
We determine all Ricci flat left invariant Lorentzian metrics on simply connected 2-step nilpotent Lie groups. We show that the $2k+1$-dimensional Heisenberg Lie group $H_{2k+1}$ carries a Ricci flat left invariant Lorentzian metric if and only if $k=1$. We show also that for any $2\leq q\leq k$, $H_{2k+1}$ carries a Ricci flat left invariant pseudo-Riemannian metric of signature $(q,2k+1-q)$ and we give explicite examples of such metrics.
In this article we study minimal flat Lorentzian surfaces in Lorentzian complex space forms. First we prove that, for minimal flat Lorentzian surfaces in a Lorentzian complex form, the equation of Ricci is a consequence of the equations of Gauss and Codazzi. Then we classify minimal flat Lorentzian surfaces in the Lorentzian complex plane ${\bf C}^2_1$. Finally, we classify minimal flat slant surfaces in Lorentzian complex projective plane $CP^2_1$ and in Lorentzian complex hyperbolic plane $CH^2_1$.
A Lorentzian flat Lie group is a Lie group $G$ with a flat left invariant metric $μ$ with signature $(1,n-1)=(-,+,\ldots,+)$. The Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}=T_eG$ of $G$ endowed with $\langle\;,\;\rangle=μ(e)$ is called flat Lorentzian Lie algebra. It is known that the metric of a flat Lorentzian Lie group is geodesically complete if and only if its Lie algebra is unimodular. In this paper, we characterise nonunimodular Lorentzian flat Lie algebras as double extensions (in the sense of Aubert-Medina \cite{Aub-Med}) of Riemannian flat Lie algebras. As application of this result, we give all nonu…
The local classification of conformally flat Lorentzian manifolds with special holonomy groups is obtained. The corresponding local metrics are certain extensions of Riemannian spaces of constant sectional curvature to Walker metrics.
We show that locally conformally flat quasi-Einstein manifolds are globally conformally equivalent to a space form or locally isometric to a $pp$-wave or a warped product.
We call a connected Lie group endowed with a left-invariant Lorentzian flat metric Lorentzian flat Lie group. In this Note, we determine all Lorentzian flat Lie groups admitting a timelike left-invariant Killing vector field. We show that these Lie groups are 2-solvable and unimodular and hence geodesically complete. Moreover, we show that a Lorentzian flat Lie group $(\mathrm{G},μ)$ admits a timelike left-invariant Killing vector field if and only if $\mathrm{G}$ admits a left-invariant Riemannian metric which has the same Levi-Civita connection of $μ$. Finally, we give an useful characteriza…
It is shown that locally conformally flat Lorentzian gradient Ricci solitons are locally isometric to a Robertson-Walker warped product, if the gradient of the potential function is non null, and to a plane wave, if the gradient of the potential function is null. The latter gradient Ricci solitons are necessarily steady.
We prove that any metric of non-positive curvature in the sense of Alexandrov on a compact surface can be isometrically embedded as a convex spacelike Cauchy surface in a flat spacetime of dimension (2+1). The proof follows from polyhedral approximation.
We describe the space of isometric immersions from the Lorentz plane $L^2$ into the 3-dimensional anti-de Sitter space, and solve several open problems of this context raised by M. Dajczer and K. Nomizu in 1981. We also obtain from the above result a description of the space of Lorentzian flat tori isometrically immersed in the anti de Sitter space in terms of pairs of closed curves with wave front singularities in the hyperbolic plane satisfying some compatibility conditions.
We describe up to finite coverings causal flat affine complete Lorentzian manifolds such that the past and the future of any point are closed near this point. We say that these manifolds are strictly causal. In particular, we prove that their fundamental groups are virtually abelian. In dimension 4, there is only one, up to a scaling factor, strictly causal manifold which is not globally hyperbolic. For a generic point of this manifold, either the past or the future is not closed and contains a lightlike straight line.
The main result of this paper is that a Lorentzian manifold is locally conformally equivalent to a manifold with recurrent lightlike vector field and totally isotropic Ricci tensor if and only if its conformal tractor holonomy admits a 2-dimensional totally isotropic invariant subspace. Furthermore, for semi-Riemannian manifolds of arbitrary signature we prove that the conformal holonomy algebra of a $C$-space is a Berger algebra. For Ricci-flat spaces we show how the conformal holonomy can be obtained by the holonomy of the ambient metric and get results for Riemannian manifolds and plane wav…
In this paper, we investigate the behavior of ADM mass and Einstein-Hilbert functional under the Yamabe flow. Through studying the Yamabe flow by weighted spaces, we show that ADM mass and Einstein-Hilbert functional are well-defined and monotone non-increasing under the Yamabe flow on $n$-dimensional, $n\geq 3$, asymptotically flat manifolds. In the case of dimension $n=3$ or 4, we obtain that the ADM mass is invariant under the Yamabe flow and the Yamabe flow is the gradient flow of Einstein-Hilbert functional on asymptotically flat manifolds
In this paper we investigate the problem of non-analytic embeddings of Lorentzian manifolds in Ricci-flat semi-Riemannian spaces. In order to do this, we first review some relevant results in the area, and then motivate both the mathematical and physical interest in this problem. We show that any $n$-dimensional compact Lorentzian manifold $(M^{n},g)$, with $g$ in the Sobolev space $H_{s+3}$, $s>\frac{n}{2}$, admits an isometric embedding in an $(2n+2)$-dimensional Ricci-flat semi-Riemannian manifold. The sharpest result available for this type of embeddings, in the general setting, comes as a…
In this paper we obtain the asymptotic behavior of solutions of the Klein-Gordon equation on Lorentzian manifolds $(X^\circ,g)$ which are de Sitter-like at infinity. Such manifolds are Lorentzian analogues of the so-called Riemannian conformally compact (or asymptotically hyperbolic) spaces. Under global assumptions on the (null)bicharacteristic flow, namely that the boundary of the compactification X is a union of two disjoint manifolds, Y+ and Y-, and each bicharacteristic converges to one of these two manifolds as the parameter along the bicharacteristic goes to plus infinity, and to the ot…
In this note we study constant mean curvature surfaces in asymptotically flat 3-manifolds. We prove that, in an asymptotically flat 3-manifold with positive mass, stable spheres of given constant mean curvature outside a fixed compact subset are unique. Therefore we are able to conclude that there is a unique foliation of stable spheres of constant mean curvature in an asymptotically flat 3-manifold with positive mass.
On a smooth $n$-manifold $M$ with $n \geq 3$, we study pairs $(g,T)$ consisting of a Riemannian metric $g$ and a unit length closed vector field $T$. Motivated by how Ricci solitons generalize Einstein metrics via a distinguished vector field, we propose to generalize space forms by considering those pairs $(g,T)$ whose corresponding Lorentzian metric $g_{\scriptscriptstyle L} = g - 2T^{\flat} \otimes T^{\flat}$ has constant curvature. We show by examples that such pairs exist when $M$ is noncompact, and that complete metrics exist among them. When $M$ is compact, however, the situation is mor…
We study the mechanisms of the non properness of the action of the group of diffeomorphisms on the space of Lorentzian metrics of a compact manifold. In particular, we prove that nonproperness entails the presence of lightlike geodesic foliations of codimension 1. On the 2-torus, we prove that a metric with constant curvature along one of its lightlike foliation is actually flat. This allows us to show that the restriction of the action to the set of non-flat metrics is proper and that on the set of flat metrics of volume 1 the action is ergodic. Finally, we show that, contrarily to the Rieman…
Given a compact, three-dimensional, real-analytic Lorentzian manifold $(M,g)$, we prove that the identity component of the conformal group preserves a metric in the conformal class $[g]$, or $(M,g)$ is conformally flat.
We consider an asymptotically flat Riemannian spin manifold of positive scalar curvature. An inequality is derived which bounds the Riemann tensor in terms of the total mass and quantifies in which sense curvature must become small when the total mass tends to zero.
We describe all Lorentzian semi-direct extensions of the Heisenberg group which are conformally Einstein. As a by side result, Bach-flat left-invariant Lorentzian metrics on semi-direct extensions of the Heisenberg group are classified, thus providing new background solutions in conformal gravity.
Using global considerations, Mess proved that the moduli space of globally hyperbolic flat Lorentzian structures on $S\times\mathbb{R}$ is the tangent bundle of the Teichmüller space of $S$, if $S$ is a closed surface. One of the goals of this paper is to deepen this surprising occurrence and to make explicit the relation between the Mess parameters and the embedding data of any Cauchy surface. This relation is pointed out by using some specific properties of Codazzi tensors on hyperbolic surfaces. As a by-product we get a new Lorentzian proof of Goldman's celebrated result about the coinciden…
We show that Lorentzian manifolds whose isometry group is of dimension at least $\frac{1}{2}n(n-1)+1$ are expanding, steady and shrinking Ricci solitons and steady gradient Ricci solitons. This provides examples of complete locally conformally flat and symmetric Lorentzian Ricci solitons which are not rigid.
We describe the compact Lorentzian $3$-manifolds admitting a parallel lightlike vector field. The classification of compact Lorentzian $3$-manifolds admitting non-isometric affine diffeomorphisms follows, together with the complete description of these morphisms. Such a Lorentzian manifold is in some sense an equivariant deformation of a flat one.
We study the geometry of compact Lorentzian manifolds that admit a somewhere timelike Killing vector field, and whose isometry group has infinitely many connected components. Up to a finite cover, such manifolds are products (or amalgamated products) of a flat Lorentzian torus and a compact Riemannian (resp., lightlike) manifold.
We consider two cases of the asymptotically flat scalar-flat Yamabe problem on a non-compact manifold with boundary, in dimension $n\geq3$. First, following arguments of Cantor and Brill in the compact case, we show that given an asymptotically flat metric $g$, there is a conformally equivalent asymptotically flat scalar-flat metric that agrees with $g$ on the boundary. We then replace the metric boundary condition with a condition on the mean curvature: Given a function $f$ on the boundary that is not too large, we show that there is an asymptotically flat scalar-flat metric, conformally equi…
Conditions for the existence of Kähler-Einstein metrics and central Kähler metrics [MS] along with examples, both old and new, are given on classes of Lorentzian $4$-manifolds with two distinguished vector fields. The results utilize the general construction [AM] of Kähler metrics on such manifolds. The examples include both complete and incomplete metrics, and some reside on Lie groups associated to four types of Lie algebras. An appendix includes a similar construction for scalar-flat Kähler metrics.
We study the Yamabe flow starting from an asymptotically flat manifold $(M^n,g_0)$. We show that the flow converges to an asymptotically flat, scalar flat metric in a weighted global sense if $Y(M,[g_0])>0$, and show that the flow does not converge otherwise. If the scalar curvature is nonnegative and integrable, then the ADM mass at time infinity drops by the limit of the total scalar curvature along the flow.
We prove a curvature pinching result for the Ricci flow on asymptotically flat manifolds: if an asymptotically flat manifold of dimension $n\geq 3$ has scale-invariant integral norm of curvature sufficiently pinched relative to the inverse of its Sobolev constant, then the Ricci flow starting from this manifold exists for all positive times and converges to flat Euclidean space. In particular our result implies that the initial manifold must have been diffeomorphic to $\mathbb{R}^n$.
We define a physically reasonable mass for an asymptotically Robertson-Walker (ARW) manifold which is uniquely defined in the case of a normalized representation.
We show that any asymptotically locally Euclidean (ALE) metric which is obstruction-flat or extended obstruction-flat must be ALE of a certain optimal order. Moreover, our proof applies to very general elliptic systems and in any dimension $n \geq 3$. The proof is based on the technique of Cheeger-Tian for Ricci-flat metrics. We also apply this method to obtain a singularity removal theorem for (extended) obstruction-flat metrics with isolated $C^0$-orbifold singular points.
In this paper, a survey of the recent results about the classification of the connected holonomy groups of the Lorentzian manifolds is given. A simplification of the construction of the Lorentzian metrics with all possible connected holonomy groups is obtained. As the applications, the Einstein equation, Lorentzian manifolds with parallel and recurrent spinor fields, conformally flat Walker metrics and the classification of 2-symmetric Lorentzian manifolds are considered.
We study Ricci flows on $R^n$, $n\ge 3$, that evolve from asymptotically flat initial data. Under mild conditions on the initial data, we show that the flow exists and remains asymptotically flat for an interval of time. The mass is constant in time along the flow. We then specialize to the case of rotationally symmetric, asymptotically flat initial data containing no embedded minimal hyperspheres. We show that in this case the flow is immortal, remains asymptotically flat, never develops a minimal hypersphere, and converges to flat Euclidean space as the time diverges to infinity. We discuss …
We formulate and prove the Lorentzian version of the positive mass theorems with arbitrary negative cosmological constant for asymptotically AdS spacetimes. This work is the continuation of the second author's recent work on the positive mass theorem on asymptotically hyperbolic 3-manifolds.
Adapting Israel's proof of static black hole uniqueness, we show that the Schwarzschild spacetime is the only static vacuum asymptotically flat spacetime that possesses a suitably defined photon sphere.
The goal of this paper is to establish the existence of a foliation of the asymptotic region of an asymptotically flat manifold with nonzero mass by surfaces which are critical points of the Willmore functional subject to an area constraint. Equivalently these surfaces are critical points of the Geroch-Hawking mass. Thus our result has applications in the theory of General Relativity.
We study pseudo-Riemanniasn manifolds $(M,g)$ with transitive group of conformal transformation which is essential, i.e. does not preserves any metric conformal to $g$. All such manifolds of Lorentz signature with non exact isotropy representation of the stability subalgebra are described. A construction of essential conformally homogeneous manifolds with exact isotropy represenatation is given. Using spinor formalism, we prove that it provides all 4-dimensional non conformally flat Lorentzian 4-dimensional manifolds with transitive essentially conformal group.
Based on the work of Adams and Stuck as well as on the work of Zeghib, we classify the Lie groups which can act isometrically and locally effectively on Lorentzian manifolds of finite volume. In the case that the corresponding Lie algebra contains a direct summand isomorphic to the two-dimensional special linear algebra or to a twisted Heisenberg algebra, we also describe the geometric structure of the manifolds if they are compact. Using these results, we investigate the local geometry of compact homogeneous Lorentz spaces whose isometry groups have non-compact connected components. It turns …
In this paper we describe the behavior of solutions of the Klein-Gordon equation, (Box_g+lambda)u=f, on Lorentzian manifolds (X^o,g) which are anti-de Sitter-like (AdS-like) at infinity. Such manifolds are Lorentzian analogues of the so-called Riemannian conformally compact (or asymptotically hyperbolic) spaces, in the sense that the metric is conformal to a smooth Lorentzian metric g^ on X, where C has a non-trivial boundary, in the sense that g=x^{-2}g^, with x a boundary defining function. The boundary is conformally time-like for these spaces, unlike asymptotically de Sitter spaces, which …
It is well known that in Lorentzian geometry there are no compact spherical space forms; in dimension 3, this means there are no closed Einstein 3-manifolds with positive Einstein constant. We generalize this fact here, by proving that there are also no closed Lorentzian 3-manifolds $(M,g)$ whose Ricci tensor satisfies $$ \text{Ric} = fg+(f-λ)T^{\flat}\otimes T^{\flat}, $$ for any unit timelike vector field $T$, any positive constant $λ$, and any smooth function $f$ that never takes the values $0,λ$. (Observe that this reduces to the positive Einstein case when $f = λ$.) We show that there is …
Starting from the Hawking--Page solutions, we consider the corresponding Lorentzian cone metrics. These represent cone interior scale-invariant vacuum solutions, defined in the chronological past of the scaling origin. We extend the Lorentzian Hawking--Page solutions to the cone exterior region in the class of $(4+1)$-dimensional scale-invariant vacuum solutions with an $SO(3)\times U(1)$ isometry, using the Kaluza--Klein reduction and the methods of Christodoulou. We prove that each Lorentzian Hawking--Page solution has extensions with a null curvature singularity, extensions with a spacelike…
We show that an asymptotically flat Riemannian three-manifold with non-negative scalar curvature is isometric to flat $\mathbb{R}^3$ if it admits an unbounded area-minimizing surface. This answers a question of R. Schoen.
In this paper I study the constant mean curvature surface in asymptotically flat 3-manifolds with general asymptotics. Under some weak condition, I prove that outside some compact set in the asymptotically flat 3-manifold with positive mass, the foliation of stable spheres of constant mean curvature is unique.
Asymptotically flat manifolds with Euclidean volume growth are known to be ALE. In this paper, we consider a class of asymptotically flat manifolds with slower volume growth and prove that their asymptotic geometry is that of a fibration over an ALE manifold. In particular, we show that gravitational instantons with cubic volume growth are ALF.