Asymptotic behavior of the T3 x R Gowdy space-times.

Abstract

We present new evidence in support of Penrose's strong cosmic censorship conjecture in the class of Gowdy space-times with ${T}^{3}$ spatial topology. Solving Einstein's equations perturbatively to all orders we show that asymptotically close to the boundary of the maximal Cauchy development the dominant term in the expansion gives rise to a curvature singularity for almost all initial data. The dominant term, which we call the "geodesic loop solution," is a solution of Einstein's equations with all space derivatives dropped. We also describe the extent to which our perturbative results can be rigorously justified.