The localised bounded $L^2$-curvature theorem

Abstract

In this paper, we prove a localised version of the bounded $L^2$-curvature theorem of Klainerman-Rodnianski-Szeftel. More precisely, we consider initial data for the Einstein vacuum equations posed on a compact spacelike hypersurface $\Sigma$ with boundary, and show that the time of existence of a classical solution depends only on an $L^2$-bound on the Ricci curvature, an $L^4$-bound on the second fundamental form of $\partial \Sigma \subset \Sigma$, an $H^1$-bound on the second fundamental form, and a lower bound on the volume radius at scale $1$ of $\Sigma$. Our localisation is achieved by first proving a localised bounded $L^2$-curvature theorem for small data posed on $B(0,1)$, and then using the scaling of the Einstein equations and a low regularity covering argument on $\Sigma$ to reduce from large data on $\Sigma$ to small data on $B(0,1)$. The proof uses the author's previous work, and the bounded $L^2$-curvature theorem as black boxes.