Existence of CMC Cauchy surfaces and spacetime splitting

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.Comment: 16 page

Maximum Principles for Null Hypersurfaces and Null Splitting Theorems

A maximum principle for C^0 null hypersurfaces is obtained and used to derive a splitting theorem for spacetimes which contain null lines. As a consequence of this null splitting theorem, it is proved that an asymptotically simple vacuum (Ricci flat) spacetime which contains a null line is isometric to Minkowski space.Comment: 26 pages, latex2

Rigidity of outermost MOTS - the initial data version

In [5], a rigidity result was obtained for outermost marginally outer trapped surfaces (MOTSs) that do not admit metrics of positive scalar curvature. This allowed one to treat the "borderline case" in the author's work with R. Schoen concerning the topology of higher dimensional black holes [8]. The proof of this rigidity result involved bending the initial data manifold in the vicinity of the MOTS within the ambient spacetime. In this note we show how to circumvent this step, and thereby obtain a pure initial data version of this rigidity result and its consequence concerning the topology of black holes.Comment: 8 pages; v2: minor changes; version to appear in GR

dS/CFT and spacetime topology

Motivated by recent proposals for a de Sitter version of the AdS/CFT correspondence, we give some topological restrictions on spacetimes of de Sitter type, i.e., spacetimes with $\Lambda>0$, which admit a regular past and/or future conformal boundary. For example we show that if $M^{n+1}$, $n \ge 2$, is a globally hyperbolic spacetime obeying suitable energy conditions, which is of de Sitter type, with a conformal boundary to both the past and future, then if one of these boundaries is compact, it must have finite fundamental group and its conformal class must contain a metric of positive scalar curvature. Our results are closely related to theorems of Witten and Yau hep-th/9910245 pertaining to the Euclidean formulation of the AdS/CFT correspondence.Comment: 16 pages, Latex2e, v2: reference corrected, v3: reference added, material added to the introductio

Some uniqueness results for dynamical horizons

We first show that the intrinsic, geometrical structure of a dynamical horizon is unique. A number of physically interesting constraints are then established on the location of trapped and marginally trapped surfaces in the vicinity of any dynamical horizon. These restrictions are used to prove several uniqueness theorems for dynamical horizons. Ramifications of some of these results to numerical simulations of black hole spacetimes are discussed. Finally several expectations on the interplay between isometries and dynamical horizons are shown to be borne out.Comment: 26 pages, 4 figures, v4: references updated, minor corrections, to appear in Advances in Theoretical and Mathematical Physic

Topology and singularities in cosmological spacetimes obeying the null energy condition

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 results for minimal surfaces.Comment: 8 pages; v2: minor changes, version to appear in CM

Cosmological singularities in Bakry-\'Emery spacetimes

We consider spacetimes consisting of a manifold with Lorentzian metric and a weight function or scalar field. These spacetimes admit a Bakry-\'Emery-Ricci tensor which is a natural generalization of the Ricci tensor. We impose an energy condition on the Bakry-\'Emery-Ricci tensor and obtain singularity theorems of a cosmological type, both for zero and for positive cosmological constant. That is, we find conditions under which every timelike geodesic is incomplete. These conditions are given by "open" inequalities, so we examine the borderline (equality) cases and show that certain singularities are avoided in these cases only if the geometry is rigid; i.e., if it splits as a Lorentzian product or, for a positive cosmological constant, a warped product, and the weight function is constant along the time direction. Then the product case is future timelike geodesically complete while, in the warped product case, worldlines of certain conformally static observers are complete. Our results answer a question posed by J Case. We then apply our results to the cosmology of scalar-tensor gravitation theories. We focus on the Brans-Dicke family of theories in 4 spacetime dimensions, where we obtain "Jordan frame" singularity theorems for big bang singularities.Comment: 15 pages; The wording of Theorem 1.5 is slightly clarified over the wording in the published version, with no change in the resul