Small data solutions of the Vlasov-Poisson system and the vector field method

The aim of this article is to demonstrate how the vector field method of Klainerman can be adapted to the study of transport equations. After an illustration of the method for the free transport operator, we apply the vector field method to the Vlasov-Poisson system in dimension 3 or greater. The main results are optimal decay estimates and the propagation of global bounds for commuted fields associated with the conservation laws of the free transport operators, under some smallness assumption. Similar decay estimates had been obtained previously by Hwang, Rendall and Vel\'azquez using the method of characteristics, but the results presented here are the first to contain the global bounds for commuted fields and the optimal spatial decay estimates. In dimension 4 or greater, it suffices to use the standard vector fields commuting with the free transport operator while in dimension 3, the rate of decay is such that these vector fields would generate a logarithmic loss. Instead, we construct modified vector fields where the modification depends on the solution itself. The methods of this paper, being based on commutation vector fields and conservation laws, are applicable in principle to a wide range of systems, including the Einstein-Vlasov and the Vlasov-Nordstr\"om system

Strong cosmic censorship for T^2-symmetric spacetimes with cosmological constant and matter

We address the issue of strong cosmic censorship for T^2-symmetric spacetimes with positive cosmological constant. In the case of collisionless matter, we complete the proof of the C^2 formulation of the conjecture for this class of spacetimes. In the vacuum case, we prove that the conjecture holds for the special cases where the area element of the group orbits does not vanish on the past boundary of the maximal Cauchy development.Comment: 29 pages, 6 figures, v2 is the version published in Annales Henri Poincar

A vector field method for relativistic transport equations with applications

We adapt the vector field method of Klainerman to the study of relativistic transport equations. First, we prove robust decay estimates for velocity averages of solutions to the relativistic massive and massless transport equations, without any compact support requirements (in $x$ or $v$) for the distribution functions. In the second part of this article, we apply our method to the study of the massive and massless Vlasov-Nordstr\"om systems. In the massive case, we prove global existence and (almost) optimal decay estimates for solutions in dimensions $n \geq 4$ under some smallness assumptions. In the massless case, the system decouples and we prove optimal decay estimates for the solutions in dimensions $n \geq 4$ for arbitrarily large data, and in dimension $3$ under some smallness assumptions, exploiting a certain form of the null condition satisfied by the equations. The $3$-dimensional massive case requires an extension of our method and will be treated in future work.Comment: 72 pages, 3 figure

Global geometry of T2 symmetric spacetimes with weak regularity

We define the class of weakly regular spacetimes with T2 symmetry, and investigate their global geometry structure. We formulate the initial value problem for the Einstein vacuum equations with weak regularity, and establish the existence of a global foliation by the level sets of the area R of the orbits of symmetry, so that each leaf can be regarded as an initial hypersurface. Except for the flat Kasner spacetimes which are known explicitly, R takes all positive values. Our weak regularity assumptions only require that the gradient of R is continuous while the metric coefficients belong to the Sobolev space H1 (or have even less regularity).Comment: 5 page

The Stability of the Minkowski space for the Einstein-Vlasov system

We prove the global stability of the Minkowski space viewed as the trivial solution of the Einstein-Vlasov system. To estimate the Vlasov field, we use the vector field and modified vector field techniques developed in [FJS15; FJS17]. In particular, the initial support in the velocity variable does not need to be compact. To control the effect of the large velocities, we identify and exploit several structural properties of the Vlasov equation to prove that the worst non-linear terms in the Vlasov equation either enjoy a form of the null condition or can be controlled using the wave coordinate gauge. The basic propagation estimates for the Vlasov field are then obtained using only weak interior decay for the metric components. Since some of the error terms are not time-integrable, several hierarchies in the commuted equations are exploited to close the top order estimates. For the Einstein equations, we use wave coordinates and the main new difficulty arises from the commutation of the energy-momentum tensor, which needs to be rewritten using the modified vector fields.Comment: 139 page

Quasimodes and a Lower Bound on the Uniform Energy Decay Rate for Kerr-AdS Spacetimes

We construct quasimodes for the Klein-Gordon equation on the black hole exterior of Kerr-Anti-de Sitter (Kerr-AdS) spacetimes. Such quasi-modes are associated with time-periodic approximate solutions of the Klein Gordon equation and provide natural candidates to probe the decay of solutions on these backgrounds. They are constructed as the solutions of a semi-classical non-linear eigenvalue problem arising after separation of variables, with the (inverse of the) angular momentum playing the role of the semi-classical parameter. Our construction results in exponentially small errors in the semi-classical parameter. This implies that general solutions to the Klein Gordon equation on Kerr-AdS cannot decay faster than logarithmically. The latter result completes previous work by the authors, where a logarithmic decay rate was established as an upper bound