In this paper we study the flat (n+1)-spacetimes admitting a Cauchy surface diffeomorphic to a compact hyperbolic n-manifold. We show how to construct a canonical future complete one among all such spacetimes sharing the same holonomy. We study the geometry of such a spacetime in terms of its canonical cosmological time. In particular we study the asymptotic behaviour of the level surfaces of the cosmological time. The present work generalizes the case n=2 treated by Mess, taking from a work of Benedetti and Guadagnini the emphasis on the fundamental role played by the canonical cosmological time.
We prove that a smooth Riemannian manifold admitting an imaginary generalized Killing spinor whose Dirac current satisfies an additional algebraic constraint condition can be embedded as spacelike Cauchy hypersurface in a smooth Lorentzian manifold on which the given spinor extends to a null parallel spinor. This is in contrast to a corresponding Cauchy problem for real generalized Killing spinors into Riemannian manifolds. The construction is based on first order symmetric hyperbolic PDE-methods. In fact, the coupled evolution equations for metric and spinor as considered here extend and gene…
New general results of non-existence and rigidity of spacelike submanifolds immersed in a spacetime, whose mean curvature is a time-oriented causal vector field, are given. These results hold for a wide class of spacetimes which includes globally hyperbolic, stationary, conformally stationary and pp-wave spacetimes, among others. Moreover, applications to the Cauchy problem in General Relativity, are presented. Finally, in the case of hypersurfaces, we also obtain significant consequences in Geometrical Analysis, solving new Calabi-Bernstein and Dirichlet problems on a Riemannian manifold.
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.
The group of conformal diffeomorphisms and the group of causal automorphisms on two-dimensional globally hyperbolic spacetimes are clarified. It is shown that if spacetimes have non-compact Cauchy surfaces, then the groups are subgroups of that of two-dimensional Minkowski spacetime, and if spacetimes have compact Cauchy surfaces, then the groups are subgroups of that of two-dimensional Einstein's static universe.
Motivated by the future stability problem of solutions of the Einstein--Yang--Mills (EYM) system with arbitrary dimension, we aim to (1) construct a tensorial symmetric hyperbolic formulation for the $(n+1)$-dimensional EYM system in the temporal gauge; (2) establish the local well-posedness for the Cauchy problem of EYM equations in the temporal gauge using this tensorial symmetric hyperbolic system. By introducing certain auxiliary variables, we extend essentially the $(n+1)$-dimensional Yang--Mills system to a tensorial symmetric hyperbolic system. On the contrary, this symmetric hyperbolic…
We study the following problem: Given initial data on a compact Cauchy horizon, does there exist a unique solution to wave equations on the globally hyperbolic region? Our main results apply to any spacetime satisfying the null energy condition and containing a compact Cauchy horizon with surface gravity that can be normalised to a non-zero constant. Examples include the Misner spacetime and the Taub-NUT spacetime. We prove an energy estimate close to the Cauchy horizon for wave equations acting on sections of vector bundles. Using this estimate we prove that if a linear wave equation can be s…
In this paper, we review results on the existence (and nonexistence) of constant mean curvature spacelike hypersurfaces in the cosmological setting, and discuss the connection to the spacetime splittng problem. It is a pleasure to dedicate this paper to Robert Bartnik, who has made fundamental contributions to this area.
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.
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.
Globally hyperbolic spacetimes admitting infinitely many causal (and timelike) homotopy classes of curves joining two prescribed points, are exhibited and discussed.
We consider the horospherical transform and its inversion in 3 examples of hyperboloids. We want to illustrate via these examples the fact that the horospherical inversion formulas can be directly extracted from the classical Radon inversion formula. In a more broad context, this possibility reflects the fact that the harmonic analysis on symmetric spaces (Riemannian as well as pseudo-Riemannian ones) is equivalent (homologous), up to the Abelian Fourier transform, to the similar problem in the flat model. On the technical level it is important that we work not with the usual horospherical tra…
In 1969, Choquet-Bruhat and Geroch established the existence of a unique maximal globally hyperbolic Cauchy development of given initial data for the Einstein equations. Their proof, however, has the unsatisfactory feature that it relies crucially on the axiom of choice in the form of Zorn's lemma. In this paper we present a proof that avoids the use of Zorn's lemma. In particular, we provide an explicit construction of this maximal globally hyperbolic development.
Given a globally hyperbolic spacetime endowed with a complete lightlike Killing vector field and a complete Cauchy hypersurface, we characterize the points which can be connected by geodesics. A straightforward consequence is the geodesic connectedness of globally hyperbolic generalized plane waves with a complete Cauchy hypersurface.
We prove that the surface gravity of a compact non-degenerate Cauchy horizon in a smooth vacuum spacetime, can be normalized to a non-zero constant. This result, combined with a recent result by Oliver Petersen and István Rácz, end up proving the Isenberg-Moncrief conjecture on the existence of Killing fields, in the smooth differentiability class. The well known corollary of this, in accordance with the strong cosmic censorship conjecture, is that the presence of compact Cauchy horizons is a non-generic phenomenon. Though we work in 3+1, the result is valid line by line in any n+1-dimensions.
Green-hyperbolic operators are linear differential operators acting on sections of a vector bundle over a Lorentzian manifold which possess advanced and retarded Green's operators. The most prominent examples are wave operators and Dirac-type operators. This paper is devoted to a systematic study of this class of differential operators. For instance, we show that this class is closed under taking restrictions to suitable subregions of the manifold, under composition, under taking "square roots", and under the direct sum construction. Symmetric hyperbolic systems are studied in detail.
We establish a complete classification theorem for the topology and for the null generators of compact non-degenerate Cauchy horizons of time orientable smooth vacuum $3+1$-spacetimes. We show that, either: (i) all generators are closed, or (ii) only two generators are closed and any other densely fills a two-torus, or (iii) every generator densely fills a two-torus, or (iv) every generator densely fills the horizon. We then show that, respectively to (i)-(iv), the horizon's manifold is either: (i') a Seifert manifold, or (ii') a lens space, or (iii') a two-torus bundle over a circle, or, (iv'…
Let $M$ be a globally hyperbolic manifold with complete spacelike Cauchy hypersurface $Σ\subset M$. Building on past and recent works of Bär and Strohmaier, we extend their Fredholm result of the Atiyah-Singer Dirac operator on compact Lorentzian spaces to the case, where $M$ is diffeomorphic to a product of $Σ$ with a compact time intervall and the hypersurface is a Galois covering with respect to a group $Γ$. We follow the first approach of both authors in this extended setting, where a well-posedness result of the Cauchy problem for the Dirac operator on non-compact manifolds is needed in p…
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 prove that the maximal development of any spherically symmetric spacetime with collisionless matter (obeying the Vlasov equation) or a massless scalar field (obeying the massless wave equation) and possessing a constant mean curvature $S^1 \times S^2$ Cauchy surface also contains a maximal Cauchy surface. Combining this with previous results establishes that the spacetime can be foliated by constant mean curvature Cauchy surfaces with the mean curvature taking on all real values, thereby showing that these spacetimes satisfy the closed-universe recollapse conjecture. A key element of the pr…
We consider the Dirac operator on asymptotically static Lorentzian manifolds with an odd-dimensional compact Cauchy surface. We prove that if Atiyah-Patodi-Singer boundary conditions are imposed at infinite times then the Dirac operator is Fredholm. This generalizes a theorem due to Bär-Strohmaier in the case of finite times, and we also show that the corresponding index formula extends to the infinite setting. Furthermore, we demonstrate the existence of a Fredholm inverse which is at the same time a Feynman parametrix in the sense of Duistermaat-Hörmander. The proof combines methods from tim…
We consider globally hyperbolic spacetimes with compact Cauchy surfaces in a setting compatible with the presence of a positive cosmological constant. More specifically, for 3+1 dimensional spacetimes which satisfy the null energy condition and contain a future expanding compact Cauchy surface, we establish a precise connection between the topology of the Cauchy surfaces and the occurrence of past singularities. In addition to (a refinement of) the Penrose singularity theorem, the proof makes use of some recent advances in the topology of 3-manifolds and of certain fundamental existence result…
Following the lines of the celebrated Riemannian result of Gromoll and Meyer, we use infinite dimensional equivariant Morse theory to establish the existence of infinitely many geometrically distinct closed geodesics in a class of globally hyperbolic stationary Lorentzian manifolds.
Let $M$ be a globally hyperbolic maximal compact $3$-dimensional spacetime locally modelled on Minkowski, anti-de Sitter or de Sitter space. It is well known that $M$ admits a unique foliation by constant mean curvature surfaces. In this paper we extend this result to singular spacetimes with particles (cone singularities of angles less than $π$ along time-like geodesics).
Given a globally hyperbolic spacetime $M$, we show the existence of a {\em smooth spacelike} Cauchy hypersurface $S$ and, thus, a global diffeomorphism between $M$ and $\R \times S$.
Benedetti and Guadagnini have conjectured that the marked lenght spectrum of the constant mean curvature foliation $M_τ$ in a 2+1 dimensional flat spacetime $V$ with compact hyperbolic Cauchy surfaces converges, in the direction of the singularity, to that of the marked measure spectrum of the R-tree dual to the measured foliation corresponding to the translational part of the holonomy of $V$. We prove that this is the case for $n+1$ dimensional, $n \geq 2$, {\em simplicial} flat spacetimes with compact hyperbolic Cauchy surface. A simplicial spacetime is obtained from the Lorentz cone over a …
This paper gives a new proof that maximal, globally hyperbolic, flat spacetimes of dimension $n\geq 3$ with compact Cauchy hypersurfaces are globally foliated by Cauchy hypersurfaces of constant mean curvature, and that such spacetimes admit a globally defined constant mean curvature time function precisely when they are causally incomplete. The proof, which is based on using the level sets of the cosmological time function as barriers, is conceptually simple and will provide the basis for future work on constant mean curvature time functions in general constant curvature spacetimes, as well f…
Recently, folk questions on the smoothability of Cauchy hypersurfaces and time functions of a globally hyperbolic spacetime M, have been solved. Here we give further results, applicable to several problems: (1) Any compact spacelike acausal submanifold H with boundary can be extended to a spacelike Cauchy hypersurface S. If H were only achronal, counterexamples to the smooth extension exist, but a continuous extension (in fact, valid for any compact achronal subset K) is still possible. (2) Given any spacelike Cauchy hypersurface S, a Cauchy temporal function T (i.e., a smooth function with pa…
We investigate the differential geometry and topology of globally hyperbolic four-manifolds $(M,g)$ admitting a parallel real spinor $\varepsilon$. Using the theory of parabolic pairs recently introduced in arXiv:1911.08658 , we first formulate the parallelicity condition of $\varepsilon$ on $M$ as a system of partial differential equations, the parallel spinor flow equations, for a family of polyforms on any given Cauchy surface $Σ\hookrightarrow M$. Existence of a parallel spinor on $(M,g)$ induces a system of constraint partial differential equations on $Σ$, which we prove to be equivalent …
Globally hyperbolic spacetimes with timelike boundary $(\overline{M} = M \cup \partial M, g)$ are the natural class of spacetimes where regular boundary conditions (eventually asymptotic, if $\overline{M}$ is obtained by means of a conformal embedding) can be posed. $\partial M$ represents the naked singularities and can be identified with a part of the intrinsic causal boundary. Apart from general properties of $\partial M$, the splitting of any globally hyperbolic $(\overline{M},g)$ as an orthogonal product ${\mathbb R}\times \barΣ$ with Cauchy slices with boundary $\{t\}\times \barΣ$ is pro…
It is shown that the initial singularities in spatially compact spacetimes with spherical, plane or hyperbolic symmetry admitting a compact constant mean curvature hypersurface are crushing singularities when the matter content of spacetime is described by the Vlasov equation (collisionless matter) or the wave equation (massless scalar field). In the spherically symmetric case it is further shown that if the spacetime admits a maximal slice then there are crushing singularities both in the past and in the future. The essential properties of the matter models chosen are that their energy-moment…
We prove several global existence theorems for spacetimes with toroidal or hyperbolic symmetry with respect to a geometrically defined time. More specifically, we prove that generically, the maximal Cauchy development of $T^2$-symmetric initial data with positive cosmological constant $Λ>0$, in the vacuum or with Vlasov matter, may be covered by a global areal foliation with the area of the symmetry orbits tending to zero in the contracting direction. We then prove the same result for surface symmetric spacetimes in the hyperbolic case with Vlasov matter and $Λ\ge 0$. In all cases, there is no…
Global properties of maximal future Cauchy developments of stationary, m-dimensional asymptotically flat initial data with an outer trapped boundary are analyzed. We prove that, whenever the matter model is well posed and satisfies the null energy condition, the future Cauchy development of the data is a black hole spacetime. More specifically, we show that the future Killing development of the exterior of a sufficiently large sphere in the initial data set can be isometrically embedded in the maximal Cauchy development of the data. In the static setting we prove, by working directly on the in…
