When considering the initial value problem in general relativity, the physically meaningful initial data sets consist of a Riemannian manifold together with a symmetric 2-tensor that satisfy the so-called constraint equations. It is a fundamental problem in mathematical relativity to understand these sets.
The purpose of this project is to study and develop geometric and analytic techniques to construct Riemannian manifolds with scalar curvature constraints, with special emphasis on those satisfying properties motivated by open questions in general relativity.
The main goal is to construct families of non time-symmetric asymptotically flat solutions of the constraint equations, i.e., initial data sets representing isolated systems, and use them to test well-known conjectures in general relativity. These conjectures relate the geometry of this type of solutions to a global invariant representing the total mass of the system.
Publications
In 2015, Mantoulidis and Schoen constructed 3-dimensional asymptotically Euclidean manifolds with non-negative scalar curvature whose ADM mass can be made arbitrarily close to the optimal value of the Riemannian Penrose Inequality, while the intrinsic geometry of the outermost minimal surface can be ``far away'' from being round. The resulting manifolds, called extensions, are geometrically not ``close'' to a spatial Schwarzschild manifold. This suggests instability of the Riemannian Penrose Inequality. Their construction was later adapted to n+1 dimensions by Cabrera Pacheco and Miao, suggesting instability of the higher dimensional Riemannian Penrose Inequality. In recent papers by Alaee, Cabrera Pacheco, and Cederbaum and by Cabrera Pacheco, Cederbaum, and McCormick, a similar construction was performed for asymptotically Euclidean, electrically charged initial data sets and for asymptotically hyperbolic Riemannian manifolds, respectively, obtaining 3-dimensional extensions that suggest instability of the Riemannian Penrose Inequality with electric charge and of the conjectured asymptotically hyperbolic Riemannian Penrose Inequality in 3 dimensions. This paper combines and generalizes all the aforementioned results by constructing suitable asymptotically hyperbolic or asymptotically Euclidean extensions with electric charge in n+1 dimensions for n greater or equal to 2.
Besides suggesting instability of a naturally conjecturally generalized Riemannian Penrose Inequality, the constructed extensions give insights into an ad hoc generalized notion of Bartnik mass, similar to the Bartnik mass estimate for minimal surfaces proven by Mantoulidis and Schoen via their extensions, and unifying the Bartnik mass estimates in the various scenarios mentioned above.
Related project(s):
40Construction of Riemannian manifolds with scalar curvature constraints and applications to general relativity41Geometrically defined asymptotic coordinates in general relativity
Team Members
Dr. Armando J. Cabrera Pacheco
Project leader
Universtät Tübingen
cabrera(at)math.uni-tuebingen.de