Spacelike Hypersurfaces Research Articles

Volume inside old black holes

Black holes that have nearly evaporated are often thought of as small objects, due to their tiny exterior area. However, the horizon bounds large spacelike hypersurfaces. A compelling geometric perspective on the evolution of the interior geometry was recently shown to be provided by a generally covariant definition of the volume inside a black hole using maximal surfaces. In this article, we expand on previous results and show that finding the maximal surfaces in an arbitrary spherically symmetric spacetime is equivalent to a 1+1 geodesic problem. We then study the effect of Hawking radiation on the volume by computing the volume of maximal surfaces inside the apparent horizon of an evaporating black hole as a function of time at infinity: while the area is shrinking, the volume of these surfaces grows monotonically with advanced time, up to when the horizon has reached Planckian dimensions. The physical relevance of these results for the information paradox and the remnant scenarios are discussed.

Singularities of dual hypersurfaces of spacelike hypersurfaces in lightcone and Legendrian duality

Singularities of dual hypersurfaces of spacelike hypersurfaces in lightcone and Legendrian duality

Uniqueness of Spacelike Hypersurfaces in a GRW Spacetime via Higher Order Mean Curvatures

We study the problem of uniqueness concerning complete spacelike hypersurfaces immersed in a generalized Robertson–Walker (GRW) spacetime, whose fiber obeys suitable curvature constraints. In this setting, we apply some maximum principles in order to guarantee that such a spacelike hypersurface must be a slice of the ambient space, provided that some of their higher order mean curvatures satisfies appropriated controls. Furthermore, we also establish nonparametric results concerning entire spacelike graphs in GRW spacetimes.

Towards state locality in quantum field theory: free fermions

Hilbert spaces of states can be constructed in standard quantum field theory only for infinitely extended spacelike hypersurfaces, precluding a more local notion of state. In fact, the Reeh-Schlieder Theorem prohibits the localization of states on pieces of hypersurfaces in the standard formalism. From the point of view of geometric quantization the problem lies in the non-locality of the complex structures associated to hypersurfaces in standard quantization. We show that using a weakened version of the positive formalism puts this problem into a new perspective. This is a local TQFT type formalism based on super-operators and mixed state spaces rather than on amplitudes and pure state spaces as the one of Atiyah-Segal. In particular, we show that in the case of purely fermionic degrees of freedom the complex structure can be dispensed with when the notion of state is suitably generalized. These generalized states do localize on compact hypersurfaces with boundaries. For the simplest case of free fermionic fields we embed this in a rigorous and functorial quantization scheme yielding a local description of the quantum theory. Crucially, no classical data is needed beyond the structures evident from a Lagrangian setting. When the classical data is augmented with complex structures on hypersurfaces, the quantum data correspondingly augment to the full positive formalism. This scheme is applicable to field theory in curved spacetime, but also to field theories without metric background.

Toroidal horizons in binary black hole mergers

We find the first binary black hole event horizon with a toroidal topology. It had been predicted that generically the event horizons of merging black holes should briefly have a toroidal topology, but such a phase has never been seen prior to this work. In all previous binary black hole simulations, in the coordinate slicing used to evolve the black holes, the topology of the event horizon transitions directly from two spheres during the inspiral to a single sphere as the black holes merge. We present a coordinate transformation to a foliation of spacelike hypersurfaces that "cut a hole" through the event horizon surface, resulting in a toroidal event horizon. A torus could potentially provide a mechanism for violating topological censorship. However, these toroidal event horizons satisfy topological censorship by construction, because we can always trivially apply the inverse coordinate transformation to remove the topological feature.

Local subsystems in gauge theory and gravity

We consider the problem of defining localized subsystems in gauge theory and gravity. Such systems are associated to spacelike hypersurfaces with boundaries and provide the natural setting for studying entanglement entropy of regions of space. We present a general formalism to associate a gauge-invariant classical phase space to a spatial slice with boundary by introducing new degrees of freedom on the boundary. In Yang-Mills theory the new degrees of freedom are a choice of gauge on the boundary, transformations of which are generated by the normal component of the nonabelian electric field. In general relativity the new degrees of freedom are the location of a codimension-2 surface and a choice of conformal normal frame. These degrees of freedom transform under a group of surface symmetries, consisting of diffeomorphisms of the codimension-2 boundary, and position-dependent linear deformations of its normal plane. We find the observables which generate these symmetries, consisting of the conformal normal metric and curvature of the normal connection. We discuss the implications for the problem of defining entanglement entropy in quantum gravity. Our work suggests that the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy may arise from the different ways of gluing together two partial Cauchy surfaces at a cross-section of the horizon.

Initial-data contribution to the error budget of gravitational waves from neutron-star binaries

As numerical calculations of inspiralling neutron-star binaries reach values of accuracy that are comparable with those of binary black holes, a fine budgeting of the various sources of error becomes increasingly important. Among such sources, the initial data is normally not accounted for, the rationale being that the error on the initial spacelike hypersurface is always far smaller than the one gained during the evolution. We here consider critically this assumption and perform a comparative analysis of the gravitational waveforms relative to essentially the same physical binary configuration when computed with two different initial-data codes, and then evolved with the same evolution code. More specifically, we consider the evolution of irrotational neutron-star binaries computed either with the pseudo-spectral code \lorene{}, or with the newly developed finite-difference code \cocal{}; both sets of initial data are subsequently evolved with the high-order evolution code \whiskythc{}. In this way we find that despite the initial data shows global (local) differences that are $\lesssim 0.02\%\ (1\%)$, the gravitational-wave phase at the merger time differs by $\sim 0.5$ radians after $\sim 3$ orbits, a surprisingly large value. Our results highlight the highly nonlinear impact that errors in the initial data can have on the subsequent evolution and the importance of using exactly the same initial data when comparative studies are done.

Complete spacelike submanifolds with parallel mean curvature vector in a semi-Euclidean space

Our aim in this article is to study the geometry of n-dimensional complete spacelike submanifolds immersed in a semi-Euclidean space \({\mathbb{R}^{n+p}_{q}}\) of index q, with \({1\leq q\leq p}\). Under suitable constraints on the Ricci curvature and on the second fundamental form, we establish sufficient conditions to a complete maximal spacelike submanifold of \({\mathbb{R}^{n+p}_{q}}\) be totally geodesic. Furthermore, we obtain a nonexistence result concerning complete spacelike submanifolds with nonzero parallel mean curvature vector in \({\mathbb{R}^{n+p}_{p}}\) and, as a consequence, we get a rigidity result for complete constant mean curvature spacelike hypersurfaces immersed in the Lorentz–Minkowski space \({\mathbb{R}^{n+1}_{1}}\).

A combined model for pseudorapidity distributions in p-p collisions at center-of-mass energies from 23.6 to 7000 GeV**Supported by Hujiang Foundation of China (B14004) and Shanghai Key Lab of Modern Optical System

In p-p collisions, the charged particles produced consist of two leading particles and those frozen out from the hot and dense matter created in the collisions. The two leading particles are in the projectile and target fragmentation regions, respectively, which, in this paper, are conventionally supposed to have Gaussian rapidity distributions. The hot and dense matter is assumed to expand according to unified hydrodynamics, a hydrodynamic model which unifies the features of the Landau and Hwa-Bjorken models, and freeze out into charged particles from a space-like hypersurface with a fixed proper time of τFO. The rapidity distribution of these charged particles can be derived analytically. The combined contribution from both leading particles and unified hydrodynamics is then compared against experimental data from a now available center-of-mass energy region from 23.6 to 7000 GeV. The model predictions are consistent with experimental measurements.

Instability results for the wave equation in the interior of Kerr black holes

We prove that a large class of smooth solutions ψ to the linear wave equation □gψ=0 on subextremal rotating Kerr spacetimes which are regular and decaying along the event horizon become singular at the Cauchy horizon. More precisely, we show that assuming appropriate upper and lower bounds on the energy along the event horizon, the solution has infinite (non-degenerate) energy on any spacelike hypersurfaces intersecting the Cauchy horizon transversally. Extrapolating from known results in the Reissner–Nordström case, the assumed upper and lower bounds required for our theorem are conjectured to hold for solutions arising from generic smooth and compactly supported initial data on a Cauchy hypersurface. This result is motivated by the strong cosmic censorship conjecture in general relativity.

On the Backward Stability of the Schwarzschild Black Hole Singularity

We study the backwards-in-time stability of the Schwarzschild singularity from a dynamical PDE point of view. More precisely, considering a spacelike hypersurface $\Sigma_0$ in the interior of the black hole region, tangent to the singular hypersurface $\{r=0\}$ at a single sphere, we study the problem of perturbing the Schwarzschild data on $\Sigma_0$ and solving the Einstein vacuum equations backwards in time. We obtain a local well-posedness result for small perturbations lying in certain weighted Sobolev spaces. No symmetry assumptions are imposed. The perturbed spacetimes all have a singularity at a "collapsed" sphere on $\Sigma_0$, where the leading asymptotics of the curvature and the metric match those of their Schwarzschild counterparts to a suitably high order. As in the Schwarzschild backward evolution, the pinched initial hypersurface $\Sigma_0$ `opens up' instantly, becoming a smooth spacelike (cylindrical) hypersurface. This result thus yields classes of examples of non-symmetric vacuum spacetimes, evolving forward-in-time from smooth initial data, which form a Schwarzschild type singularity at a collapsed sphere. We rely on a precise asymptotic analysis of the Schwarzschild geometry near the singularity which turns out to be at the threshold that our energy methods can handle.

Initial conditions of inhomogeneous universe and the cosmological constant problem

Deriving the Einstein field equations (EFE) with matter fluid from the action principle is not straightforward, because mass conservation must be added as an additional constraint to make rest-frame mass density variable in reaction to metric variation. This can be avoided by introducing a constraint 0δ(√−g) = to metric variations δ gμν, and then the cosmological constant Λ emerges as an integration constant. This is a removal of one of the four constraints on initial conditions forced by EFE at the birth of the universe, and it may imply that EFE are unnecessarily restrictive about initial conditions. I then adopt a principle that the theory of gravity should be able to solve time evolution starting from arbitrary inhomogeneous initial conditions about spacetime and matter. The equations of gravitational fields satisfying this principle are obtained, by setting four auxiliary constraints on δ gμν to extract six degrees of freedom for gravity. The cost of achieving this is a loss of general covariance, but these equations constitute a consistent theory if they hold in the special coordinate systems that can be uniquely specified with respect to the initial space-like hypersurface when the universe was born. This theory predicts that gravity is described by EFE with non-zero Λ in a homogeneous patch of the universe created by inflation, but Λ changes continuously across different patches. Then both the smallness and coincidence problems of the cosmological constant are solved by the anthropic argument. This is just a result of inhomogeneous initial conditions, not requiring any change of the fundamental physical laws in different patches.

Conformal regular spacelike hypersurfaces in a conformal space $$\mathbb {Q}^{n+1}_1$$ Q 1 n + 1

Let \(x: M \rightarrow \mathbb {Q}^{n+1}_1\) be an \(n (n\ge 4)\)-dimensional conformal regular spacelike hypersurface in the conformal space \(\mathbb {Q}^{n+1}_1\) with vanishing conformal form. If x is a conformal Blaschke isoparametric spacelike hypersurface in \(\mathbb {Q}^{n+1}_1\) with three distinct conformal principal curvatures, one of which is simple or x is of parallel conformal Blaschke tensor, we obtain some classification of such conformal regular spacelike hypersurface x.

Geometric analysis of the Lorentzian distance function on trapped submanifolds

We use geometric analysis of the Lorentzian distance on an n-dimensional spacetime to derive some non-existence results and some sharp mean curvature estimates for trapped submanifolds contained in the chronological future of either a point or of a space-like achronal hypersurface . Our results are given as an application of the corresponding Hessian comparison results for the Lorentzian distance function and the so-called weak maximum principle for the Laplacian operator.

Null hypersurfaces in generalized Robertson–Walker spacetimes

We study the geometry of null hypersurfaces M in generalized Robertson–Walker spacetimes. First we characterize such null hypersurfaces as graphs of generalized eikonal functions over the fiber and use this characterization to show that such hypersurfaces are parallel if and only if their fibers are also parallel. We further use this technique to construct several examples of null hypersurfaces in both de Sitter and anti de Sitter spaces. Then we characterize all the totally umbilical null hypersurfaces M in a Lorentzian space form (viewed as a quadric in a semi-Euclidean ambient space) as intersections of the space form with a hyperplane. Finally we study the totally umbilical spacelike hypersurfaces of null hypersurfaces in space forms and characterize them as planar sections of M .

The Hartle–Hawking wave function in 2D causal set quantum gravity

We define the Hartle–Hawking no-boundary wave function for causal set theory (CST) over the discrete analogs of spacelike hypersurfaces. Using Markov Chain Monte Carlo and numerical integration methods we analyze the wave function in non-perturbative 2D CST. We find that in the low-temperature regime it is dominated by causal sets which have no continuum counterparts but possess physically interesting geometric properties. Not only do they exhibit a rapid spatial expansion with respect to the discrete proper time, but a high degree of spatial homogeneity. The latter is due to the extensive overlap of the causal pasts of the elements in the final discrete hypersurface and corresponds to high graph connectivity. Our results thus suggest new possibilities for the role of quantum gravity in the observable Universe.

Scalar curvature of spacelike hypersurfaces and certain class of cosmological models for accelerated expanding universes

We study the scalar curvature of spacelike hypersurfaces in the family of cosmological models known as generalized Robertson–Walker spacetimes, and give several rigidity results under appropriate mathematical and physical assumptions. On the other hand, we show that this family of spacetimes provides suitable models obeying the null convergence condition to explain accelerated expanding universes.

On maximal hypersurfaces in Lorentz manifolds admitting a parallel lightlike vector field

We study constant mean curvature spacelike hypersurfaces and in particular maximal hypersurfaces immersed in pp-wave spacetimes satisfying the timelike convergence condition. We prove the non-existence of compact spacelike hypersurfaces whose constant mean curvature is non-zero and also that every compact maximal hypersurface is totally geodesic. Moreover, we give an extension of the classical Calabi–Bernstein theorem to this class of pp-wave spacetimes.

Complete spacelike hypersurfaces in generalized Robertson–Walker and the null convergence condition: Calabi–Bernstein problems

We study constant mean curvature spacelike hypersurfaces in generalized Robertson–Walker spacetimes $$\overline{M}= I \times _f F$$ which are spatially parabolic (i.e. its fiber F is a (non-compact) complete Riemannian parabolic manifold) and satisfy the null convergence condition. In particular, we provide several rigidity results under appropriate mathematical and physical assumptions. We pay special attention to the case where the GRW spacetime is Einstein. As an application, some Calabi–Bernstein type results are given.

Indefinite Kasparov Modules and Pseudo-Riemannian Manifolds

We present a definition of indefinite Kasparov modules, a generalisation of unbounded Kasparov modules modelling non-symmetric and non-elliptic (e.g. hyperbolic) operators. Our main theorem shows that to each indefinite Kasparov module we can associate a pair of (genuine) Kasparov modules, and that this process is reversible. We present three examples of our framework: the Dirac operator on a pseudo-Riemannian spin manifold (i.e. a manifold with an indefinite metric), the harmonic oscillator, and the construction via the Kasparov product of an indefinite spectral triple from a family of spectral triples. This last construction corresponds to a foliation of a globally hyperbolic spacetime by spacelike hypersurfaces.