The hyperboloidal foliation method

The Hyperboloidal Foliation Method presented in this monograph is based on a (3+1)-foliation of Minkowski spacetime by hyperboloidal hypersurfaces. It allows us to establish global-in-time existence results for systems of nonlinear wave equations posed on a curved spacetime and to derive uniform energy bounds and optimal rates of decay in time. We are also able to encompass the wave equation and the Klein-Gordon equation in a unified framework and to establish a well-posedness theory for nonlinear wave-Klein-Gordon systems and a large class of nonlinear interactions. The hyperboloidal foliation of Minkowski spacetime we rely upon in this book has the advantage of being geometric in nature and, especially, invariant under Lorentz transformations. As stated, our theory applies to many systems arising in mathematical physics and involving a massive scalar field, such as the Dirac-Klein-Gordon system. As it provides uniform energy bounds and optimal rates of decay in time, our method appears to be very robust and should extend to even more general systems.Comment: 160 page

The global nonlinear stability of Minkowski space. Einstein equations, f(R)-modified gravity, and Klein-Gordon fields

We study the initial value problem for two fundamental theories of gravity, that is, Einstein's field equations of general relativity and the (fourth-order) field equations of f(R) modified gravity. For both of these physical theories, we investigate the global dynamics of a self-gravitating massive matter field when an initial data set is prescribed on an asymptotically flat and spacelike hypersurface, provided these data are sufficiently close to data in Minkowski spacetime. Under such conditions, we thus establish the global nonlinear stability of Minkowski spacetime in presence of massive matter. In addition, we provide a rigorous mathematical validation of the f(R) theory based on analyzing a singular limit problem, when the function f(R) arising in the generalized Hilbert-Einstein functional approaches the scalar curvature function R of the standard Hilbert-Einstein functional. In this limit we prove that f(R) Cauchy developments converge to Einstein's Cauchy developments in the regime close to Minkowski space. Our proofs rely on a new strategy, introduced here and referred to as the Euclidian-Hyperboloidal Foliation Method (EHFM). This is a major extension of the Hyperboloidal Foliation Method (HFM) which we used earlier for the Einstein-massive field system but for a restricted class of initial data. Here, the data are solely assumed to satisfy an asymptotic flatness condition and be small in a weighted energy norm. These results for matter spacetimes provide a significant extension to the existing stability theory for vacuum spacetimes, developed by Christodoulou and Klainerman and revisited by Lindblad and Rodnianski.Comment: 127 pages. Selected chapters from a boo

Gravitational perturbations of Schwarzschild spacetime at null infinity and the hyperboloidal initial value problem

We study gravitational perturbations of Schwarzschild spacetime by solving a hyperboloidal initial value problem for the Bardeen-Press equation. Compactification along hyperboloidal surfaces in a scri-fixing gauge allows us to have access to the gravitational waveform at null infinity in a general setup. We argue that this hyperboloidal approach leads to a more accurate and efficient calculation of the radiation signal than the common approach where a timelike outer boundary is introduced. The method can be generalized to study perturbations of Kerr spacetime using the Teukolsky equation.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure

Stability of a coupled wave-Klein-Gordon system with quadratic nonlinearities

Using the hyperboloidal foliation method, we establish stability results for a coupled wave-Klein-Gordon system with quadratic nonlinearities. In particular, we investigate quadratic wave-Klein-Gordon interactions in which there are no derivatives on the massless wave component. By combining hyperboloidal energy estimates with appropriate transformations of our fields, we are able to show global existence of solutions for sufficiently small initial data.Comment: Published version. Both authors are grateful to the anonymous referees, whose comments improve a lot on the presentation and the precision of the articl

Binary black hole coalescence in the large-mass-ratio limit: the hyperboloidal layer method and waveforms at null infinity

We compute and analyze the gravitational waveform emitted to future null infinity by a system of two black holes in the large mass ratio limit. We consider the transition from the quasi-adiabatic inspiral to plunge, merger, and ringdown. The relative dynamics is driven by a leading order in the mass ratio, 5PN-resummed, effective-one-body (EOB), analytic radiation reaction. To compute the waveforms we solve the Regge-Wheeler-Zerilli equations in the time-domain on a spacelike foliation which coincides with the standard Schwarzschild foliation in the region including the motion of the small black hole, and is globally hyperboloidal, allowing us to include future null infinity in the computational domain by compactification. This method is called the hyperboloidal layer method, and is discussed here for the first time in a study of the gravitational radiation emitted by black hole binaries. We consider binaries characterized by five mass ratios, $\nu=10^{-2,-3,-4,-5,-6}$, that are primary targets of space-based or third-generation gravitational wave detectors. We show significative phase differences between finite-radius and null-infinity waveforms. We test, in our context, the reliability of the extrapolation procedure routinely applied to numerical relativity waveforms. We present an updated calculation of the gravitational recoil imparted to the merger remnant by the gravitational wave emission. As a self consistency test of the method, we show an excellent fractional agreement (even during the plunge) between the 5PN EOB-resummed mechanical angular momentum loss and the gravitational wave angular momentum flux computed at null infinity. New results concerning the radiation emitted from unstable circular orbits are also presented.Comment: 22 pages, 18 figures. Typos corrected. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Hyperboloidal evolution of test fields in three spatial dimensions

We present the numerical implementation of a clean solution to the outer boundary and radiation extraction problems within the 3+1 formalism for hyperbolic partial differential equations on a given background. Our approach is based on compactification at null infinity in hyperboloidal scri fixing coordinates. We report numerical tests for the particular example of a scalar wave equation on Minkowski and Schwarzschild backgrounds. We address issues related to the implementation of the hyperboloidal approach for the Einstein equations, such as nonlinear source functions, matching, and evaluation of formally singular terms at null infinity.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure