20 research outputs found
Gluing Initial Data Sets for General Relativity
We establish an optimal gluing construction for general relativistic initial
data sets. The construction is optimal in two distinct ways. First, it applies
to generic initial data sets and the required (generically satisfied)
hypotheses are geometrically and physically natural. Secondly, the construction
is completely local in the sense that the initial data is left unaltered on the
complement of arbitrarily small neighborhoods of the points about which the
gluing takes place. Using this construction we establish the existence of
cosmological, maximal globally hyperbolic, vacuum space-times with no constant
mean curvature spacelike Cauchy surfaces.Comment: Final published version - PRL, 4 page
Perturbative Solutions of the Extended Constraint Equations in General Relativity
The extended constraint equations arise as a special case of the conformal
constraint equations that are satisfied by an initial data hypersurface in
an asymptotically simple spacetime satisfying the vacuum conformal Einstein
equations developed by H. Friedrich. The extended constraint equations consist
of a quasi-linear system of partial differential equations for the induced
metric, the second fundamental form and two other tensorial quantities defined
on , and are equivalent to the usual constraint equations that satisfies
as a spacelike hypersurface in a spacetime satisfying Einstein's vacuum
equation. This article develops a method for finding perturbative,
asymptotically flat solutions of the extended constraint equations in a
neighbourhood of the flat solution on Euclidean space. This method is
fundamentally different from the `classical' method of Lichnerowicz and York
that is used to solve the usual constraint equations.Comment: This third and final version has been accepted for publication in
Communications in Mathematical Physic
Solutions of special asymptotics to the Einstein constraint equations
We construct solutions with prescribed asymptotics to the Einstein constraint
equations using a cut-off technique. Moreover, we give various examples of
vacuum asymptotically flat manifolds whose center of mass and angular momentum
are ill-defined.Comment: 13 pages; the error in Lemma 3.5 fixed and typos corrected; to appear
in Class. Quantum Gra
Specifying angular momentum and center of mass for vacuum initial data sets
We show that it is possible to perturb arbitrary vacuum asymptotically flat
spacetimes to new ones having exactly the same energy and linear momentum, but
with center of mass and angular momentum equal to any preassigned values
measured with respect to a fixed affine frame at infinity. This is in contrast
to the axisymmetric situation where a bound on the angular momentum by the mass
has been shown to hold for black hole solutions. Our construction involves
changing the solution at the linear level in a shell near infinity, and
perturbing to impose the vacuum constraint equations. The procedure involves
the perturbation correction of an approximate solution which is given
explicitly.Comment: (v2) a minor change in the introduction and a remark added after
Theorem 2.1; (v3) final version, appeared in Comm. Math. Phy
On the volume functional of compact manifolds with boundary with constant scalar curvature
We study the volume functional on the space of constant scalar curvature
metrics with a prescribed boundary metric. We derive a sufficient and necessary
condition for a metric to be a critical point, and show that the only domains
in space forms, on which the standard metrics are critical points, are geodesic
balls. In the zero scalar curvature case, assuming the boundary can be
isometrically embedded in the Euclidean space as a compact strictly convex
hypersurface, we show that the volume of a critical point is always no less
than the Euclidean volume bounded by the isometric embedding of the boundary,
and the two volumes are equal if and only if the critical point is isometric to
a standard Euclidean ball. We also derive a second variation formula and apply
it to show that, on Euclidean balls and ''small'' hyperbolic and spherical
balls in dimensions 3 to 5, the standard space form metrics are indeed saddle
points for the volume functional
On smoothness-asymmetric null infinities
We discuss the existence of asymptotically Euclidean initial data sets to the
vacuum Einstein field equations which would give rise (modulo an existence
result for the evolution equations near spatial infinity) to developments with
a past and a future null infinity of different smoothness. For simplicity, the
analysis is restricted to the class of conformally flat, axially symmetric
initial data sets. It is shown how the free parameters in the second
fundamental form of the data can be used to satisfy certain obstructions to the
smoothness of null infinity. The resulting initial data sets could be
interpreted as those of some sort of (non-linearly) distorted Schwarzschild
black hole. Its developments would be so that they admit a peeling future null
infinity, but at the same time have a polyhomogeneous (non-peeling) past null
infinity.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figur
Deformations of the hemisphere that increase scalar curvature
Consider a compact Riemannian manifold M of dimension n whose boundary
\partial M is totally geodesic and is isometric to the standard sphere S^{n-1}.
A natural conjecture of Min-Oo asserts that if the scalar curvature of M is at
least n(n-1), then M is isometric to the hemisphere S_+^n equipped with its
standard metric. This conjecture is inspired by the positive mass theorem in
general relativity, and has been verified in many special cases. In this paper,
we construct counterexamples to Min-Oo's conjecture in dimension n \geq 3.Comment: Revised version, to appear in Invent. Mat
On "many black hole" space-times
We analyze the horizon structure of families of space times obtained by
evolving initial data sets containing apparent horizons with several connected
components. We show that under certain smallness conditions the outermost
apparent horizons will also have several connected components. We further show
that, again under a smallness condition, the maximal globally hyperbolic
development of the many black hole initial data constructed by Chrusciel and
Delay, or of hyperboloidal data of Isenberg, Mazzeo and Pollack, will have an
event horizon, the intersection of which with the initial data hypersurface is
not connected. This justifies the "many black hole" character of those
space-times.Comment: several graphic file
Hyperboloidal evolution with the Einstein equations
We consider an approach to the hyperboloidal evolution problem based on the
Einstein equations written for a rescaled metric. It is shown that a conformal
scale factor can be freely prescribed a priori in terms of coordinates in a
well-posed hyperboloidal initial value problem such that the location of null
infinity is independent of the time coordinate. With an appropriate choice of a
single gauge source function each of the formally singular conformal source
terms in the equations attains a regular limit at null infinity. The suggested
approach could be beneficial in numerical relativity for both wave extraction
and outer boundary treatment.Comment: 10 pages; uses iop styl
The EROS2 search for microlensing events towards the spiral arms: the complete seven season results
The EROS-2 project has been designed to search for microlensing events
towards any dense stellar field. The densest parts of the Galactic spiral arms
have been monitored to maximize the microlensing signal expected from the stars
of the Galactic disk and bulge. 12.9 million stars have been monitored during 7
seasons towards 4 directions in the Galactic plane, away from the Galactic
center. A total of 27 microlensing event candidates have been found. Estimates
of the optical depths from the 22 best events are provided. A first order
interpretation shows that simple Galactic models with a standard disk and an
elongated bulge are in agreement with our observations. We find that the
average microlensing optical depth towards the complete EROS-cataloged stars of
the spiral arms is , a number that is
stable when the selection criteria are moderately varied. As the EROS catalog
is almost complete up to , the optical depth estimated for the
sub-sample of bright target stars with () is easier to interpret. The set of microlensing events
that we have observed is consistent with a simple Galactic model. A more
precise interpretation would require either a better knowledge of the distance
distribution of the target stars, or a simulation based on a Galactic model.
For this purpose, we define and discuss the concept of optical depth for a
given catalog or for a limiting magnitude.Comment: 22 pages submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysic