We investigate the twistor space and the Grassmannian fibre bundle of a Lorentzian 4-space with natural almost optical structures and its induced CR-structures. The twistor spaces of the Lorentzian space forms $\R^4_1, \Di{S}^4_1$ and $\Di{H}^4_1$ are explicitly discussed. The given twistor construction is applied to surface theory in Lorentzian 4-spaces. Immersed spacelike surfaces in a Lorentzian 4-space with special geometric properties like semi-umbilic surfaces and surfaces that have mean curvature of vanishing lengths correspond to holomorphic curves in the Lorentzian twistor space. For the Lorentzian space forms $\R^4_1, \Di{S}^4_1$ and $\Di{H}^4_1$ those surfaces are explicitly constructed and classified.
In this paper, we study three types of helicoidal surfaces in a Lorentzian n--space $\mathbb{E}^n_1$. First, we find the parametrizations of spacelike loxodromes on such spacelike helicoidal surfaces in $\mathbb{E}^n_1$. Then, we make a similar classification for spacelike loxodromes on such timelike helicoidal surfaces of a Lorentzian n--space $\mathbb{E}^n_1$.
For a regular curve on a spacelike surface in Lorentz-Minkowski $3$-space, we have a moving frame along the curve which is called a Lorentzian Darboux frame. We introduce five special vector fields along the curve associated to the Lorentzian Darboux frame and investigate their singularities.
We show that the Dirac operator on a compact globally hyperbolic Lorentzian spacetime with spacelike Cauchy boundary is a Fredholm operator if appropriate boundary conditions are imposed. We prove that the index of this operator is given by the same expression as in the index formula of Atiyah-Patodi-Singer for Riemannian manifolds with boundary. The index is also shown to equal that of a certain operator constructed from the evolution operator and a spectral projection on the boundary. In case the metric is of product type near the boundary a Feynman parametrix is constructed.
For every codimension two spacelike submanifold of a Lorentz manifold and each choice of a normal lightlike vector field, we introduce a canonical way to construct a tractor conformal bundle. We characterize when the induced connection of a such submanifold defines a tractor connection and then, in this case, when this tractor conformal bundle with the induced connection is standard for the induced metric. Finally, the normality condition for this tractor conformal bundle endowed with the induced connection is characterized in terms of a strong relationship between the intrinsic and the extrin…
Let $M^n$ be an $n$-dimensional umbilic-free hypersurface in the $(n+1)$-dimensional Lorentzian space form $M^{n+1}_1(c)$. Three basic invariants of $M^n$ under the conformal transformation group of $M^{n+1}_1(c)$ are a $1$-form $C$, called conformal $1$-form, a symmetric $(0,2)$ tensor $B$, called conformal second fundamental form, and a symmetric $(0,2)$ tensor $A$, called Blaschke tensor. The so-called para-Blaschke tensor $D^λ=A+λB$, the linear combination of $A$ and $B$, is still a symmetric $(0,2)$ tensor. A spacelike hypersurface is called a para-Blaschke isoparametric spacelike hypersu…
The maximal analytic Schwarzschild spacetime is manifestly inextendible as a Lorentzian manifold with a twice continuously differentiable metric. In this paper, we prove the stronger statement that it is even inextendible as a Lorentzian manifold with a continuous metric. To capture the obstruction to continuous extensions through the curvature singularity, we introduce the notion of the spacelike diameter of a globally hyperbolic region of a Lorentzian manifold with a merely continuous metric and give a sufficient condition for the spacelike diameter to be finite. The investigation of low-reg…
In this paper we generalize in Lorentz-Minkowski space $ł^3$ the two-dimensional analogue of the catenary of Euclidean space. We solve the Dirichlet problem for bounded mean convex domains and spacelike boundary data that have a spacelike extension to the domain. We also classify all singular maximal surfaces of $ł^3$ invariant by a uniparametric group of translations and rotations.
We classify (spacelike or timelike) surfaces of revolution with zero $f$-mean curvature in $\Bbb G^2\times\Bbb R_1,$ the Lorentz-Minkowski 3-space $\Bbb R^3_1$ endowed with the Gaussian-Euclidean density $e^{-f(x,y,z)}=\frac 1{2π}e^{-\frac{x^2+y^2}2}.$ It is proved that an $f$-maximal surface of revolution is either a horizontal plane or a spacelike $f$-Catenoid. For the timelike case, a timelike $f$-minimal surface is either a vertical plane containing $z$-axis, the cylinder $x^2+y^2=1,$ or a timelike $f$-Catenoid. Spacelike and timelike $f$-Catenoids are new examples of $f$-minimal surfaces …
A new approach to the study of spacelike submanifolds in a spherical Robertson-Walker spacetime: characterization of the stationary spacelike submanifolds as an application
In this paper, we define and, then, we characterize constant angle spacelike and timelike surfaces in the three-dimensional Heisenberg group, equipped with a 1-parameter family of Lorentzian metrics. In particular, we give an explicit local parametrization of these surfaces and we produce some examples.
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.
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…
On a compact globally hyperbolic Lorentzian spin manifold with smooth spacelike Cauchy boundary the (hyperbolic) Dirac operator is known to be Fredholm when Atiyah-Patodi-Singer boundary conditions are imposed. In this paper we investigate to what extent these boundary conditions can be replaced by more general ones and how the index then changes. There are some differences to the classical case of the elliptic Dirac operator on a Riemannian manifold with boundary.
Kenmotsu's formula describes surfaces in Euclidean 3-space by their mean curvature functions and Gauss maps. In Lorentzian 3-space, Akutagawa-Nishikawa's formula and Magid's formula are Kenmotsu-type formulas for spacelike surfaces and for timelike surfaces, respectively. We apply them to a few problems concerning rotational or helicoidal surfaces with constant mean curvature. Before that, we show that the three formulas above can be written in a unified single equation.
This paper looks at the splitting problem for globally hyperbolic spacetimes with timelike Ricci curvature bounded below containing a (spacelike, acausal, future causally complete) hypersurface with mean curvature bounded from above. For such spacetimes we show a splitting theorem under the assumption of either the existence of a ray of maximal length or a maximality condition on the volume of Lorentzian distance balls over the hypersurface. The proof of the first case follows work by Andersson, Galloway and Howard and uses their geometric maximum principle for level sets of the (Lorentzian) B…
In this work, we study helix spacelike and timelike surfaces in the Lorentzian Berger sphere $\s_{\varepsilon}^3$, that is the three-dimensional sphere endowed with a $1$-parameter family of Lorentzian metrics, obtained by deforming the round metric on $\s^3$ along the fibers of the Hopf fibration $\s^3\to \s^2({1}/{2})$ by $-\varepsilon^2$. Our main result provides a characterization of the helix surfaces in $\s_{\varepsilon}^3$ using the symmetries of the ambient space and a general helix in $\s_{\varepsilon}^3$, with axis the infinitesimal generator of the Hopf fibers. Also, we construct so…
We study the weighted light ray transform $L$ of integrating functions on a Lorentzian manifold over lightlike geodesics. We analyze $L$ as a Fourier Integral Operator and show that if there are no conjugate points, one can recover the spacelike singularities of a function $f$ from its the weighted light ray transform $Lf$ by a suitable filtered back-projection.
A mixed type surface is a connected regular surface in a Lorentzian 3-manifold with non-empty spacelike and timelike point sets. The induced metric of a mixed type surface is a signature-changing metric, and their lightlike points may be regarded as singular points of such metrics. In this paper, we investigate the behavior of Gaussian curvature at a non-degenerate lightlike point of a mixed type surface. To characterize the boundedness of Gaussian curvature at a non-degenerate lightlike points, we introduce several fundamental invariants along non-degenerate lightlike points, such as the ligh…
For Riemannian submanifolds of a semi-Riemannian manifold, we introduce the concepts of \emph{total shear tensor} and \emph{shear operators} as the trace-free part of the corresponding second fundamental form and shape operators. The relationship between these quantities and the umbilical properties of the submanifold is shown. Several novel notions of umbilical submanifolds are then considered along with the classical concepts of totally umbilical and pseudo-umbilical submanifolds. Then we focus on the case of co-dimension $2$, and we present necessary and sufficient conditions for the subman…
